A California doctor who intentionally drove his wife and two young children off a 300-foot cliff at the San Mateo County coastline saw prosecutors dismiss his attempted murder charges Monday.
Prosecutors said Dharmesh Patel, now 45 years old, experienced paranoia and delusions in the weeks leading up to Jan. 2, 2023, when he drove a Tesla off Highway 1 at Devil’s Slide.
“He was hearing footsteps at night. He feared his children would be sold into sex slavery. He carried a knife around for three days. None of this was based on reality,” a prosecutor said.
Patel and his 4-year-old son, 7-year-old daughter and 41-year-old wife miraculously survived the dive into the rocks with serious injuries, as reported.
Criminal proceedings in the case were suspended on July 8, 2024, when a judge granted Patel’s request for mental health diversion. Defense attorney Joshua Bentley said the father of two was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and suffered a mental health crisis.
As part of his two-year-long mental health diversion, Patel had to reside at his parents’ house in Belmont and attend treatment sessions. Twice weekly, he had to test to prove he was taking his medications.
On Monday, before Judge Sharon Cho, the court dismissed and sealed Patel’s triple attempted murder case due to his completion of the diversion program. Additionally, the court lifted a no harassment order in place for his family, and officials released his passport back to him, according to the DA’s office.
San Mateo County DA Steve Wagstaffe released a statement to KTLA, which read in part, “Defendant Patel complete(d) the two years of mental health diversion and thus under the California law, Judge Cho had no discretion. She had to dismiss the charges; it was not a choice she made. My prosecutor did not object for the same reason.”
Wagstaffe said under the Mental Health Diversion law passed by California legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, certain crimes are not eligible for mental health diversion such as murder, rape or other sexual assault, child molestation and human trafficking. He said it does not include attempted murder on its list of excluded crimes.
His statement continued, “In our view, if a defendant intentionally decided that he wanted to kill another human being and tried to do so, they should not be able to avoid accountability and avoid justice. But that is not the law, and Mr. Patel was entitled to the dismissal. The law is seldom perfect.”
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