Charges against US dad who drove family off cliff dropped after mental health treatment
Dharmesh Patel had been charged with attempted murder after driving his Tesla off a cliff known as Devil’s Slide in California in 2023
All charges against a radiologist accused of trying to kill his family in 2023 by driving his car off a cliff along the Northern California coast have been dismissed by a judge following his completion of a mental health programme.
A San Mateo County judge dismissed the charges on Monday after Patel completed a two-year mental health diversion programme with a Stanford University psychiatrist and a family therapist this week, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
“The judge was required by the law to dismiss the charges,” Wagstaffe said.
In 2024, a different judge ruled Patel would receive mental health treatment instead of standing trial after his defence lawyers argued he was going through episodic major depression with hallucinations when he drove his family off the cliff and qualified for mental health diversion under California law that went into effect in 2023.
“If the person who’s given mental health diversion follows the treatment plan, there’s nothing that can be done and at the end of the two years he gets it wiped out of his record,” Wagstaffe said.
San Mateo prosecutors unsuccessfully opposed diversion for Patel.