California prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, a 41-year-old radiologist from Southern California, with three counts of attempted murder for driving a Tesla with his family inside off a 250-foot cliff earlier this month.
On Monday, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaff said his office charged Patel with attempted murder after reviewing testimony from his wife, who was in the car and remains at the hospital, the people driving behind Patel and videos from the tunnel near the incident on January 2. The charges include special allegations of domestic violence and causing great bodily harm, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“We believe the evidence establishes the requisite intent to kill,” Wagstaffe said.
Patel appeared before San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Finnigan on Monday afternoon and was denied bond due to “potential danger to family members,” according to the Chronicle. Finnigan also ordered Patel not to harass his family. The radiologist suffered “serious lower body injuries” as a result of the incident and was taken to the San Mateo County Jail.
Although there were initial questions about whether Tesla’s self-driving mode had been activated, given the company’s dangerous track record in accidents involving Autopilot functions, the California Highway Patrol said earlier this month that the car did not appear to be the culprit. . Wagstaffe, the district attorney, said Monday that the Tesla was not in self-driving mode at the time of the crash and that investigators have so far found no problems with the car.
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Witnesses told investigators that the brake lights on Patel’s Tesla did not illuminate when the car suddenly made a sharp right and went down the 250-foot cliff known as Devil’s Slide. The Tesla landed upright on its wheels and the four family members were rescued. However, the couple’s 7-year-old daughter was seriously injured. Meanwhile, their 4-year-old son escaped with only bruises from the crash.
Experts were amazed the family survived, telling the New York Times it was “very unusual for anyone to survive an incident of this magnitude in this area.”
Exactly why Patel decided to drive Tesla off the cliff is still an open question. Wagstaffe said the district attorney’s office is still investigating.
“We are investigating what led to this. Was there depression or something?” Wagstaffe said, according to the Chronicle. “He wasn’t just trying to kill them, he was trying to kill himself.”
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