A “suicidal” California doctor accused of intentionally driving his Tesla car with his wife and two young children inside off a cliff will not stand trial on attempted murder charges and will instead enter a mental health diversion program.
Dharmesh Patel, who was admitted to the two-year program in San Mateo County Court last Thursday, will remain in jail for “several weeks” before being released, the San Mateo district attorney told NBC News.
The radiologist, who has spent the past 18 months in prison, will return to his family home upon his release from prison but will be ordered not to leave.
He will also be required to appear in court weekly for progress reports.
The media report said Patel will be ordered to undergo twice-weekly testing “to demonstrate compliance”, will be required to abstain from drugs and alcohol and will have her driving licence and passport confiscated.
A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen Wagstaff told NBC News that the doctor will return to court on July 1, when details of his release will be determined.
Judge Susan Jakubowski allowed Patel to participate in the program, but the district attorney’s office “vehemently” opposed it.
The radiologist was “by all accounts a kind and loving” father figure, Jakubowski said Thursday, adding that Patel would be better off in treatment than in prison, The Mercury News reported.
Last week’s sentence was handed down after evidence was found to suggest Ms Patel suffered from severe depression.
Two doctors told the court in April that Ms Patel had been suffering from “severe depression” and had a “psychotic” attack at the time of the murder-suicide attempt on January 2, 2023.
The Tesla Model Y fell off a 250-foot cliff on Highway 1’s “Devil’s Slide” and landed on the Pacific Coast.
Miraculously, Mr Patel, his wife and their two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, all survived.
Patel was arrested and later charged with three counts of attempted murder, to which he initially pleaded not guilty, claiming that his Tesla had malfunctioned and driven off a cliff.
His wife, Neha, later told investigators that her husband had been suffering from depression before the accident.
“He is depressed. He is a doctor. He said he was going to drive off a cliff. He deliberately drove away,” Neha told rescuers.
Psychologist Mark Patterson said in his testimony that Patel’s delusions were caused by the country’s fentanyl crisis, the war in Ukraine and fears that her children might be abducted and sexually abused, which appeared to be linked to her concerns about suspected sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In May, Neha Patel pleaded with prosecutors to drop the charges and allow her husband to enter the program.
“It has been over a year and a half since my children or I have seen or spoken to Dharmesh, even though we need him in our lives,” she said.
Patterson said the doctor was deemed an appropriate candidate for the program because he poses a low risk of injury to others and has made progress in treatment since the accident.
