After completing a mental health program, a judge dismissed all charges against a radiologist who was accused of attempting to kill his family in 2023 by driving his car off a cliff in the Northern California coast.
Dharmesh Patel, 45, was accused by prosecutors of attempting to kill his wife and two little children when he drove his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway in San Mateo County. In what one official described as a “complete miracle,” all four survived the collision on January 2, 2023.
After Patel finished a two-year mental health diversion program with a Stanford psychiatrist and a family therapist this week, a San Mateo County judge dismissed the charges on Monday, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Wagstaffe stated:
“The judge was required by the law to dismiss the charges,” “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.”
After Patel’s defense lawyers claimed he was experiencing episodic major depression with hallucinations when he drove his family off the cliff and qualified for mental health diversion under a California law that went into effect in 2023, a different judge decided in 2024 that Patel would receive mental health treatment rather than stand trial.
Prosecutors in San Mateo were unable to stop Patel’s diversion. Attempted murder should not be eligible for mental health diversion, according to Wagstaffe and other California district attorneys.
