New Delhi:
All charges against an Indian-origin doctor accused of trying to kill his family by driving his Tesla car with them inside off a 250-foot cliff during a ‘psychotic breakdown’ in 2023 in the US have been dismissed as he completed a two-year mental health program.
“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,” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said as reported by the news agency AP.
Wagstaffe had argued that attempted murder should be excluded from eligibility for mental health diversion.
Dharmesh Patel (45) was charged with three counts of attempted murder.
On January 2, 2023, Patel was on a road trip with his wife and two children when he drove his white Tesla off a cliff in Northern California. All four of them survived with minor injuries in what officials called an “absolute miracle”.
Patel’s wife had initially informed rescue officials that he intentionally drove them off the cliff. Though later she said she did not want her husband to be prosecuted.
Patel, however, was subsequently arrested.
During questioning, he told a psychiatrist t that he was depressed and had delusions that his children, ages 4 and 7 at the time, would be trafficked by kidnappers – which led him to commit the act. He was in jail without bail for nearly a year.
The Medical Board of California, too, had barred Patel from practicing medicine.
However, he was released in 2024 to complete a mental health outpatient treatment program after his expert witness, Dr Mark Patterson, said that he had diagnosed Patel with major depressive disorder with a single episode of psychotic features and anxious distress. Patterson also told the court that he had met Patel many times since the crash.
Upon his release, Patel moved in with his parents in San Mateo County and was monitored through a GPS bracelet. He had to surrender his driver’s license and passport and had to check with the court weekly.
Eventually, his wife and children also moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Patel has been residing, and the court allowed him to spend time with them and take them out on drives.
(With inputs from AP)
