SFV Doctor Who Drove Family Over Cliff Faces Attempted Murder Charge

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA —A San Fernando Valley doctor accused of intentionally driving his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff earlier this month with his wife and their two young children aboard made his first court appearance Monday, just hours after prosecutors filed charges that could put the 41-year-old radiologist from Pasadena behind bars for life.

All four survived the Jan. 2 crash in what authorities called a “miracle” rescue. But Dharmesh A. Patel, his wife and 7-year-old daughter suffered serious injuries. His 4-year-old son suffered minor injuries.

Patel is employed as a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, according to multiple published reports.

Patel was arrested Jan. 3 but wasn’t jailed until Friday afternoon, when he was released from Stanford Hospital, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

On Monday, prosecutors charged Patel with three counts of attempted murder, of which two include enhancements for causing great bodily injury, Wagstaffe said.

The enhancements for causing great bodily injury to two victims means that if convicted, Patel could face seven years to life on both counts.

The third attempted murder charge, in connection with his 4-year-old son, did not result in enhanced charges because the child wasn’t seriously injured, Wagstaffe said.

“We have concluded that the evidence supports the fact that he intentionally drove his vehicle over that cliff and thereby, and obviously not just endangering his wife and two children but his own life,” Wagstaffe said Monday outside the San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City.

Patel was also charged with child abuse in connection with the Jan. 2 crash. He is being held without bail.

Wagstaffe said there was no deadline to charge Patel until “the clock started Friday afternoon when he was released from a hospital to the San Mateo County Main Jail.”

Prosecutors finally made the call to charge Patel four weeks after the crash.

“That’s why the decision was made this morning,” Wagstaffe said. “There was no new fact that changed the circumstance for us.

“It was simply a matter of timing.”

Patel has retained Joshua Bentley, a prominent San Carlos-based defense attorney whose high-profile clients include ex-San Francisco 49ers defensive star Aldon Smith in a 2021 DUI case.

Bentley was involved in another high-profile case involving Tesla.

Bentley represented Alexander Samek, a Los Altos planning commissioner arrested on suspicion of DUI after the CHP said he was spotted asleep at the wheel of a Tesla on autopilot that was traveling 70 mph on a Bay Area freeway in 2018.

Patel was in a holding cell behind a plexiglass window during Monday’s proceeding. He couldn’t be seen from the gallery as he consulted with Bentley.

Judge Jeffrey Finigan granted Bentley’s request for a continuance to Feb. 9.

Finigan also granted Deputy DA Dominique Davis’ request that Patel continue to be held without bail. He denied Davis’ request for a no-contact order that would have barred him from communicating with his family, instead issuing a no-harassment order.

The decision to charge Patel was based on a combination of witness testimony, video evidence taken from Tom Lantos Tunnel, and an incriminating statement his wife made to paramedics during the rescue, Wagstaffe said.

“We have video showing the movement of the car after it left the tunnel and went up the hill, turned off of the road and then turned to go down the cliff,” Wagstaffe said.

A witness around the time of the crash told NBC Bay Area they saw the car go over the cliff.

"And I can see in my rear-view mirror this car that just go over the edge and straight down," the witness told the television station.

So far, the witnesses and video have provided the most compelling evidence against Patel, Wagstaffe.

“We’re hoping to learn more when the wife is hopefully available for an interview,” Wagstaffe said.

The extent to which she plans to cooperate with prosecutors, however, remains an open question. She has retained her own attorney, Wagstaffe said.

“Her attorney has said that until she is physically ready to do so, they are declining an interview,” Wagstaffe said, noting that she “hasn’t said no.”

Wagstaffe said the woman’s injuries aren’t preventing her from speaking with investigators.

“I am hopeful that she will want to help all of us get to the truth about what happened,” he said.

Wagstaffe said his office views the case as a domestic violence incident. Davis, the Deputy DA assigned to the case, specializes in domestic violence, Wagstaffe said.

The Tesla sedan plummeted more than 250 feet from the highway and crashed into a rocky outcropping. It appears to have flipped a few times before landing on its wheels, wedged against the cliff just feet from the surf, according to Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief for Coastside Fire Protection District/Cal Fire.

Crashes along Devil’s Slide, a steep, rocky and winding coastal area about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) south of San Francisco that’s between Pacifica and Montara, rarely end with survivors.

“We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live. This was an absolute miracle,” Pottenger said around the time of the crash.

News of Patel’s arrest and the circumstances the crash has stunned neighbors.

"They're like ideal neighbors,” neighbor Sarah Walker told ABC 7.

“It seemed like they had a great holiday, they went to go see both parents. It just seemed very happy and great."

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the CHP - San Francisco Area at (415) 557-1094.

— Bay City News and The Associated Press contributed to this report