Wife takes back doctor husband who intentionally drove her, their two children off cliff after charges are dropped
A doctor who drove the family car, occupied by his wife and young kids, off a cliff in attempt to kill them all is now free and reunited with those same loved ones in a shock decision by a judge.
Dharmesh Patel, 45, a Pasadena radiologist, faced three counts of attempted murder after authorities alleged he deliberately drove his Tesla off Devil’s Slide in Pacifica, in San Mateo County, in January 2023.
Patel stood silently before San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Sharon K. Cho as she dismissed the three attempted murder charges Monday, according to the Mercury News.
The judge made her decision after after receiving reports from Patel’s doctors indicating he was doing well in the mental health diversion program he had been placed in. Cho said reports from Patel’s clinicians showed he was “doing very well” and noted that he plans to continue treatment.
After the ruling, Patel embraced his wife in the courtroom gallery before the couple left the courthouse together. With the charges dismissed, Patel will not face further prosecution and is expected to have his passport returned after it was confiscated by authorities.
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Dharmesh Patel stands with his defense attorney Joshua Bentley in court.David G. McIntyre for NY Post
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Emergency personnel at the scene of the crash in Pacifica.AP
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Dharmesh Patel, his wife, and their two children pose for a family photo.Facebook / Neha Patel
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Patel’s wife, 41, and the couple’s two young children — a 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son — were inside the Tesla when it plunged roughly 300 feet down the cliff.
All four family members miraculously survived the crash.
Patel, 45, had faced three counts of attempted murder for the January 2023 crash.AP
During a 2024 hearing, Patel’s attorneys argued he was suffering from major depressive disorder at the time of the wreck, while psychologists testified he experienced a psychotic break.
Patel was reportedly experiencing hallucinations, hearing footsteps and he believed his children had been sex trafficked, according to two doctors who testified at a hearing in April 2024.
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Patel’s wife and the couple’s two young children were inside the Tesla when it plunged roughly 300 feet down the cliff.ABC 7
The doctor’s delusions were allegedly provoked by the nation’s fentanyl crisis, the war in Ukraine and Patel’s fears his children could be kidnapped and molested — which appeared to have been connected to his worries about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
During a May 2024 court hearing, Patel’s wife addressed the court for the first time since the Jan. 2, 2023, crash, describing the incident as “a mental health episode beyond any of our understanding or control” and telling the judge that “things will be different” if her husband is allowed to return home.
“We need him in our life,” Neha Patel said during a video appearance at the time. “We’re not a family without him.”
She told the court she “will not hesitate to seek help when needed” under a treatment plan that relies, in part, on Patel’s family to report any signs of further mental instability. “The health and safety of my family is of paramount importance,” she added.
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Patel’s wife also described the toll his incarceration had taken on their family while he remained jailed without bail. She noted that the couple’s 16th wedding anniversary was approaching and called him a “kind and altruistic” man who “has been my best friend for more than 25 years.” She recalled him buying dinner for colleagues and poinsettias for neighbors during the holidays.
She said their daughter often cried over her father’s absence, while their son had repeatedly asked why it was “taking so long” for him to come home.
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“He wished daddy would magically appear on St. Patrick’s Day when he saw a rainbow,” she said, adding that the boy was “heartbroken” when that did not happen.
“Seeing my kids in emotional pain is one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure.”
She told the court Patel’s admission into the treatment program “not only will restore him back to himself but it will restore the health and wellness of our entire family.”
Her testimony came before psychologist Yan Chan testified that Patel may have been misdiagnosed by doctors who treated him in the months after the crash.
Chan expressed concern that Patel had stopped taking the anti-psychotic medication prescribed to treat the paranoid delusions that may have contributed to the crash.
“We simply don’t know what might be triggering Patel,” Chan testified, while warning he would be returning to “a ripe environment for these kind of brewing thoughts, these delusions, to come back.”
Patel’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, argued during the hearing that prosecutors had failed to show his client posed an ongoing danger.
“Not one witness came in to testify that Mr. Patel poses a risk of danger to society,” Bentley said, describing Patel as “a decent human being, with zero criminal history.”
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, who opposed Patel’s placement in the diversion program, blasted the decision to dismiss the case. “He got the break of a lifetime,” Wagstaffe told the Mercury News.
The Post reached out to Neha following the dismissal of all charges against her husband, but she offered no comment.The law office of Joshua Bentley did not return our call.
