The Pasadena doctor accused of trying to kill his family by driving the family Tesla off a cliff with his wife and two children inside will receive mental health treatment and has a chance to have his criminal case dismissed, a judge ruled.
Dharmesh Patel, 43, has been jailed in San Mateo County since January 2023, when he drove his wife, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son off a cliff on Pacific Coast Highway in Devil's Slide, falling plummeted 250 feet to the rocky terrain below. The family miraculously survived.
On Thursday, a San Mateo Superior Court judge determined that Patel was eligible for a mental health diversion due to his major depressive disorder and can live with his parents during his treatment.
Doctors who testified for Patel's defense team said Patel suffered from the disorder with “psychotic features,” according to District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, whose office opposed the diversion of the case. Patel's wife testified that he should be freed, even after telling authorities earlier in the case that Patel “tried to kill us.”
“He was worried about the world. He was worried about everything that was going on in the world, including whether his children might… [be] sex trafficking,” Wagstaffe said.
Emergency personnel respond to the car crash on January 1, 2023, which led to Dharmesh Patel being jailed on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse.
(Sgt. Brian Moore / Associated Press)
Wagstaffe said a doctor who examined Patel and testified on behalf of prosecutors disagreed with the defense's diagnosis and believed Patel suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
“It is a different treatment. If what you really suffer from is schizoaffective disorder, then your treatment plan and medication will not work and will not solve it,” Wagstaffe told The Times.
Wagstaffe said the diversion means the criminal case against Patel, in which he is charged with three counts of attempted murder, will be suspended. He will be in the mental health diversion program for two years. There is no probation or supervision beyond his meetings with the doctor handling his case, Wagstaffe said.
If Patel violates the provisions of the diversion measure, either by breaking a law or failing to comply with the conditions of the treatment plan, the criminal process resumes. If Patel successfully completes the two-year treatment plan, the case will be dismissed.
Patel has not yet been released from jail, according to county records. The judge in the case ordered the doctor to remain in San Mateo County for the duration of the mental health diversion. Patel must appear in court once a week and will live with his parents in Belmont.
