A California Radiologist Drove His Wife and 2 Young Children Off a Cliff on Highway 1 in 2023. A Judge Just Dismissed All 3 Counts of Attempted Murder Against Him
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On July 6, 2026, Dharmesh Patel walked free after a San Mateo County court dismissed all 3 counts of attempted murder. He’d just completed a 2-year mental-health diversion program, an outcome California law makes automatic once diversion is finished.
On January 2, 2023, Dr. Dharmesh Patel, a Pasadena radiologist, drove his Tesla off a cliff at Devil’s Slide on Highway 1 near Pacifica. The car fell roughly 250 to 300 feet down a stretch with no guardrail. His wife Neha and their 2 young children were inside. Rescuers used ropes, the Jaws of Life, and helicopters in the rain to reach them, and all four survived, an outcome authorities called “an absolute miracle.”
Prosecutors charged Patel with 3 counts of attempted murder. According to first responders, Neha initially told them he was depressed, had said he was going to drive off the cliff, and had done it on purpose.
His defense told a different account. Multiple psychologists diagnosed major depressive disorder and testified in 2024 that Patel was likely in a depression-related psychotic break at the time, describing delusions that his children would be harmed and framing the crash as an apparent suicide attempt during a mental-health crisis rather than a calculated act. Intent was never settled in court.
In August 2024, a judge ruled Patel eligible for California’s mental-health diversion program, a legal option for certain defendants with documented mental illness. He was released to his parents’ home under GPS monitoring, surrendered his passport, and did weekly court check-ins alongside treatment with a Stanford psychiatrist. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe opposed the program from the start, calling the case too serious and too premeditated for diversion. Patel also surrendered his California medical license after the state Medical Board found he had willfully harmed his family.
Once he completed the program this month, dismissal of the charges was mandatory under state law, not a plea deal and not a decision by prosecutors to drop the case. Wagstaffe said Patel got the break of breaks, noting that if anyone had died he would have faced 25 years to life. Prosecutors are now backing efforts to narrow the diversion law, and Governor Newsom signed a bill tightening some of its rules in June.
Neha Patel moved with the children to the Bay Area and testified that she forgave her husband, missed him, and wanted him home. She did not want the case to go further. A court closed it without ever deciding whether he meant to do it.
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