Dad Charged With Attempted Murder After He Drove His Tesla off Cliff With His Entire Family | “An Intentional Act”

A report published in 2021 by the California Department of Transportation stated that road accidents were more common in the area that included Devil’s Slide than elsewhere. This area is again in the news. This time a 40-year-old man, Dharmesh Arvind Patel, who was driving a Tesla, fell off a 250-foot cliff along with his family. All four have miraculously survived.

However, Patel, who is from Pasadena, California, has been charged with attempted murder and child abuse, as his two children and his wife were also inside the car at the time. He was arrested on 2nd January at Stanford Hospital, as per an arrest report by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) that was shared with PEOPLE.

The report also stated that the 41-year-old woman, along with the 7-year-old girl and the 4-year-old boy were injured in the incident. The CHP said in a news release on Tuesday that it was alerted of "a vehicle over the side of the cliff on SR-1" around 10:50 a.m. local time on the 2nd of January. After the CHP got to the scene, they saw a white Tesla that had fallen 250-300 feet over the cliff, the release stated.  Authorities recovered two adults and two children, who were rushed "to a local hospital with serious injuries."

The adults suffered non-life-threatening injuries and the children were not harmed when the car traveling southbound on the Pacific Coast Highway on the 2nd of January went over the cliff at Devil’s Slide and landed near the shoreline below, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. Helicopters assisted in rescuing the four people in the car. Two of them were taken to the hospital by ambulance, and two by helicopter, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

On further investigating the matter, the CHP said, "investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act." They added that at this stage they do not think Telsa's self-drive feature was a factor in the crash. "There has been no determination as to what driving mode the Tesla was in; however, that does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident," it said.

Patel is still getting treated at the Stanford Hospital and he will be booked at San Mateo County Jail once he is discharged. Authorities in California have claimed, it's an "absolute miracle" that all four people have survived. In a video update shared on the fire department's Twitter page on Tuesday, Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief for Coastside Fire Protection District/Cal Fire, said that the damage on the Tesla indicated it "flipped several times" before landing on the beach on its wheels.

When they first arrived, Pottenger said they were unaware of the extent of the incident. However, they could see there was "movement in the front seat," adding, "We knew we had at least one person that was alive." He continued, "We were actually very shocked." According to the Associated Press, Pottenger also said, "authorities "come out here unfortunately all too often for things like this ... They never live," adding "This was an absolute miracle." Chief Pottenger further said, “It is very unusual for anyone to survive an accident of this magnitude in this area."

References:

https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/district-4/documents/d4-environmental-docs/0q610/0q610_sm1_barrier_ded_011222.pdf

https://people.com/crime/tesla-driver-that-went-over-calif-cliff-charged-for-attempted-murder/

https://twitter.com/CALFIRECZU/status/1610075687981023233?s=20

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Tesla-plunges-off-cliff-at-Devil-s-Slide-17690271.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUzdRF_JSdo&ab_channel=AssociatedPress

Cover Image Source: Facebook / San Mateo County Sheriff's Office