Dharmesh Patel’s wife told authorities he said he was “going to drive off the cliff” and “he drove off on purpose” after their Tesla plunged off Devil’s Slide in San Mateo County in January.
The wife of the California radiologist accused of intentionally driving his Tesla off a 330-foot cliff with his wife and their two young children inside earlier this year told authorities he plunged them off the precipice “on purpose,” newly unsealed documents reveal.
Dharmesh Patel, 41, was charged with three counts of attempted murder after he allegedly drove off the Pacific Coast Highway and over a cliff at Devil’s Slide in San Mateo County on Jan. 2. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in February.
Miraculously, no one was harmed in the crash. The two young children were seven and four years old at the time of the incident.
Documents in the case unsealed Wednesday show his wife told authorities multiple times that her husband deliberately drove off the cliff.
She told a paramedic helping extricate the family from the crushed vehicle that Patel “had driven off the side of the road on purpose. She repeated this multiple times,” the filing said.
The court documents said Patel was next to her and was coherent, but “did not say anything unless he was spoken to.”
A second paramedic at the crash site said Patel’s wife was very worried about the safety of her children. She told this paramedic that “the defendant drove the vehicle off the cliff on purpose and that he was trying to kill them all. She said this approximately three times.”
She also told an officer with the California Highway Patrol: “He drove off. He’s depressed. He’s a doctor. He said he was going to drive off the cliff. He drove off on purpose.”
The CHP also interviewed witnesses who observed the Tesla before it plunged off the cliff.
Two witnesses reported the Tesla “accelerated” as it traveled towards the cliffside and none of the witnesses said the driver attempted to brake before plummeting off the cliff.
A nearby security camera also captured the moment the Tesla drove off the cliffside. It showed the Tesla traveling within the lines on the road, slowing down, then turning right onto the cliff.
“The Tesla then takes a gradual right turn, plunging off the cliffside. There is no indication of attempts to brake or to turn the Tesla in a different direction,” the filing said.
The unsealed documents also shed light on what Patel said about the crash.
When he was interviewed at the hospital after the crash, “he claimed he had pulled over to check his tire pressure, which the Tesla indicated was low earlier that morning,” the documents said.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Thursday that “we do not think Mr. Patel’s statement is consistent with the facts.”
The unsealed filings also showed that when investigators asked Patel if he was depressed, Patel responded “not really.” But, he said he was feeling down about “the war and drugs and crazy stuff.”
The filing said officers spoke with Patel’s family. His sister said she spoke with Patel the night prior and recalled he was “sad about the war and other things occurring in the news.” He said he was worried about “the future of his children due to everything going on in the world.”
Authorities responding to the Tesla crash were stunned to find out that there were survivors in the severely damaged vehicle.
Cal Fire officials said it was incredibly “rare” for anyone to survive such a steep fall. One expert described the family’s survival as “kind of a miracle, considering the impact severity.”
The white Tesla Model Y vehicle Patel was driving was visibly crushed on all sides after it barreled off Devil’s Slide, about 20 miles south of San Francisco, the morning of Jan. 2.
In the fall, the car flipped over and landed on its wheels. Firefighters had to rappel to the scene, extricate the family and called for helicopters to hoist them to safety.
The unsealed filings said Patel’s wife was hospitalized in critical condition and was in the hospital for over a month before she was released to an outside treatment facility.
Their daughter suffered a broken hand and their son a wound to the back of his head, the filings said. Once the kids were discharged, they were placed in the care of the defendant’s sister.
Patel is due back in court on June 12 for a preliminary hearing. Two of the three attempted murder charges include special allegations of domestic violence and intent to cause great bodily injury.
At the hearing, a judge will determine whether the prosecution evidence supports the charges of attempted murder, Wagstaffe said.
In February, Patel’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, told a judge that his client’s wife did not want her husband to be prosecuted, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Wagstaffe said Thursday that Patel’s wife talked to law enforcement after the crash and “the next occasion for her to speak on the matter will be the preliminary hearing.”
Emails and calls to Patel’s attorney went unanswered Thursday. No one answered a cell phone number listed for Patel on Thursday.