All charges against a radiologist accused of trying to kill his family in 2023 by driving his car over a cliff on the Northern California coast have been dismissed by a judge following his completion of a mental health program.
Prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, 45, with attempted murder he drove his Tesla over a 276 meter cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway known as the “Devil’s Slide”, injuring his wife and two young children. All four survived the January 2, 2023 crash in what one official called “an absolute miracle”.
A San Mateo County judge dismissed the charges Monday after Patel completed a two-year mental health diversion program with a Stanford University psychiatrist and family therapist this week, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
“The judge was required by law to dismiss the charges,” Wagstaffe said.
In 2024, a different judge ruled that Patel would receive mental health treatment instead of a trial after his defense attorneys argued that he was experiencing severe traumatic events when he pulled his family off the cliff and qualified for a mental health diversion under a California law that took effect in 2023.
“If someone who has had a mental health diversion goes through a treatment program, there is nothing that can be done and at the end of two years they will have their record expunged,” Wagstaffe said.
