Woman Whose Husband Allegedly Drove Her Off A Cliff Pleads For His Release

The wife of a California doctor who drove his Tesla off a cliff with their family trapped inside is asking a judge to place her husband in a mental health treatment program rather than sending him to prison.

“We need him in our lives,” Neha Patel, whose husband Dharmesh Patel is being tried for the attempted murder of herself and their two children, told a Redwood City judge Thursday,per The San Francisco Chronicle.

“It has been over a year and a half since my children or I have seen or spoken to Dharmesh. We are not a family without him,” she said via Zoom.

On Jan. 2, 2023, Dharmesh Patel was was driving along a dangerous stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway known as the Devil’s Slide, where numerous fatal accidents have occurred. His Tesla Model Y allegedly careened off a 250-foot cliff with Neha and their kids inside.

Police charged Dharmesh Patel with three counts of attempted murder. San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe previously told People that Neha warned first responders after the incident that her partner“intentionally tried to kill us.”

While the mother of two and her children survived, Neha Patel and one of her kids suffered serious injuries, per the Chronicle.

Dharmesh has pleaded not guilty to all charges, per the L.A. Times. He has claimed the crash was an accident.

Should the judge in Dharmesh Patel’s case rule in favor of diversion, he would be released from jail and placed in a two-year mental health program. He would be returned to criminal court, should he violate the conditions of his release.

The defense argued Thursday that Dharmesh Patel acted on a psychotic episode and major depressive disorder, which led him to believe his children were being sex-trafficked, per The Los Angeles Times.