REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) — A Tesla driver accused of trying to kill his entire family by driving over a cliff in San Mateo County pleaded not guilty in court Thursday.
Dharmesh Patel, 41, of Pasadena, is charged with three counts of attempted murder, as well as domestic violence. The victims in the case are Patel’s 7-year-old daughter, his 4-year-old son, and his wife.
On January 2, Patel was driving his family in a Tesla Model Y along Highway 1 when he intentionally steered over a cliff at Devil’s Slide, according to prosecutors and the California Highway Patrol. The family plunged more than 250 feet down until their Tesla crashed onto a rocky beach.
A judge ordered Patel to remain in custody with no bail on Thursday afternoon. The judge also issued a no contact order barring the Southern California doctor from contacting his three family members.
Patel’s wife and children miraculously survived the crash and were rescued by a California Highway Patrol helicopter and crews that repelled down the cliffside. When paramedics reached the mangled Tesla, Patel’s wife was screaming, according to reports.
“She did make a statement,” District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told KRON4. “She said, very simply, this was not an accident.”
The Tesla was crushed on all sides, but, “by some miracle that I don’t understand, all of them have survived,” Wagstaffe said.
Traffic cameras positioned on top of the cliff next to a tunnel recorded Patel turning toward the cliff, prosecutors said.
“We don’t know the motive, that is the big question right now. But we will continue to look into that, why he would do this,” Wagstaffe said.
In the months before the crash, Patel was working as a doctor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills neighborhood north of Los Angeles. Now he’s facing a possible life prison sentence if he is found guilty of the charges filed against him.
A defense attorney said Patel’s wife does not want her husband to be prosecuted.
Victims who decline to cooperate with investigators are common in domestic violence cases, Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher said.
Gallagher said, “Regardless of whether she is cooperative, we believe we have sufficient evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.” He added that the case is a “very dynamic situation whenever you have this violence within a family setting.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 20 in the San Mateo County Hall of Justice.
