California Doctor Allegedly Drove Family Off Cliff On Purpose

At around 11 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2023, Dharmesh A. Patel, a 41-year-old doctor, purposely drove his wife and two young children off a California cliff, according to USA Today. California Highway Patrol troopers arrested him later that same day at Stanford Hospital on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse.

Patel is under constant police supervision while at the hospital, according to The Los Angeles Times, and he will be booked at San Mateo County Jail when he’s discharged. Investigators haven’t released information about the evidence they have, and they haven’t revealed the motives behind the attempted murder charge. They simply confirmed that the charges were “justified”.

Patel was driving a white Tesla Model Y when he drove off the cliff, and his wife Neha, 41, was in the front passenger seat. Their 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son were seated in the back of the vehicle. Despite plunging more than 250 feet off the cliff, all four were alive, but they were trapped in the sedan after the fall.

All four family members were saved in a multi-agency rescue. Rescue crews rappelled down to the car, pulled the children out of the vehicle’s back window, and transported them up the cliff in a basket using ropes. They were brought to the road on stretchers and then taken to the hospital. The children were uninjured, according to The New York Times, but the adults had non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to the road by helicopter. They were then rushed to the hospital by an air ambulance.

Shaun Bouyea, who assisted with the rescue with the California Highway Patrol, told PEOPLE that he had never seen a crash and recovery like this one. He said, "I've seen people go over cliffs and survive, but never from [300 feet]. Also, it's unusual for that many people to be in the car and to have them all survive."

"Hearing that a car went 300 feet off a cliff, and then seeing victims still alive — that boosted hope for everyone and changed the tone from somber to something more miraculous," Bouyea added.

Located approximately 15 miles south of San Francisco, the steep and rocky cliff was known to locals as Devil’s Slide, and many others have died at the treacherous spot. It lies along California’s famous coastal Highway 1, which is called the Pacific Coast Highway because it runs nearly the whole length of the state’s Pacific coastline.

There wasn’t a guardrail at the spot where Patel drove the car off the cliff, according to ABC 7. Coastside Fire Protection District/Cal Fire battalion Chief Brian Pottenger said the car flipped before landing on its wheels in a precarious spot, wedged against a cliff and only steps away from the ocean.

PEOPLE reported that Patel is a radiologist in Mission Hills, California, who worked at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. The hospital issued the following statement: "Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is deeply saddened to learn of a traffic incident involving one of our physicians and his family. We are extremely grateful there were no serious injuries. We will not respond further, as this incident is under investigation."

At the time of the crash, the family lived in the quiet residential neighborhood called Lomay Place in Pasadena, California. A neighbor, Roger Newmark, told The Los Angeles Times, “They’re a beautiful, idyllic family, no indication of issues. It’s so strange because he is a great guy. Maybe it was a moment of insanity.”