Advertisement
Crime
WorldUnited States & Canada
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
2-MIN READ2-MIN
Listen
Associated Press
Published: 7:33am, 8 Jul 2026
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
Prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, 45, with attempted murder after he drove his Tesla off a 276-metre (50ft) cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway known as “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 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
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
0.8x
0.9x
1.0x
1.1x
1.2x
1.5x
1.75x
00:00
00:00
1.00x
