The suicidal doctor accused of intentionally driving his wife and two kids off a 250-foot California cliff suffers from a major depressive disorder and needs treatment — not jail time — in connection with his attempted murder case, his lawyers said Friday
Radiologist Dharmesh Patel, 42, received a diagnosis that would allow him to enter a statewide diversion program and avoid jail time for the tremendous tumble his Tesla took off the Pacific Coast Highway on Jan. 2, KRON 4 reported.
Patel pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, and claimed his Tesla Model Y was experiencing tire issues he drove it off the PCH’s 250-foot “Devil’s Slide” into the Pacific Ocean.
His wife, Neha, rejects those claims — and has maintained her husband deliberately drove the family off the notorious stretch of the highway in Pacifica, outside of San Francisco.
After the car took a tumble, Neha told rescuers: “He’s depressed. He’s a doctor. He said he was going to drive off the cliff. He purposefully drove off.”
In a three-page probable cause document, California Highway Patrol Officer Aaron Sapien wrote that while Neha was being rescued from the mangled car she told an emergency worker, “something to the effect that the driver, her husband Dharmesh Patel, did it on purpose…
“She then told him that her husband needs a psych evaluation.”
Firefighters had to cut Patel, his 41-year-old wife Neha, their 7-year-old daughter and their 4-year-old son out of the mangled car, in what prosecutors say was a failed murder-suicide. Everyone inside the Tesla survived the crash.
Patel pleaded not guilty in February at a Redwood City courtroom to three counts of attempted murder and two enhancements related to the grave injuries suffered by his wife and 7-year-old daughter.
Witnesses said the Tesla didn’t show signs of slowing down before it plummeted off the cliff and the police report also does not indicate a malfunction.
San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in January that the Tesla was not in self-driving mode when it jumped into the rocky beachside bluff.
During a July 31 hearing, a judge will lay out the process for Patel to seek entry into the diversion program, which is a process that could take months.n
He will remain in custody without bail.