Doctor who drove his Tesla and family off a cliff says he was pulling over to check tire pressure

• The physician accused of driving his household off a cliff instructed officers he was checking his tire stress.
• However his spouse stated the crash was intentional, per The San Francisco Chronicle citing court docket paperwork.
• Dharmesh Patel is dealing with three counts of tried homicide. He has pleaded not responsible.  

The California physician accused of driving his Tesla off a 250-foot coastal cliff while his wife and two small children were in the car instructed authorities he was making an attempt to examine his tire stress when the automobile plunged off the cliffside, based on new court docket paperwork obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle.

However his spouse is telling a distinct, extra ominous story.

Prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, 41 with three counts of attempted murder in January after authorities stated he drove his Tesla off the Pacific Coast Highway over a cliff at Devil’s Slide in San Mateo County, California. He pleaded not responsible to the fees in February.

All 4 relations within the automotive, together with the couple’s 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son miraculously survived the steep fall. An engineering knowledgeable who research automotive crashes told Insider earlier this year that the family was lucky to be alive after the crash, crediting Tesla’s security options and sheer luck with their survival.

Patel, a former radiologist in Los Angeles, instructed investigators he had pulled his automotive to the facet of the street within the moments earlier than the crash, The Chronicle reported Friday, citing exclusively-obtained court docket paperwork.

However Patel’s spouse, Neha Patel, instructed first responders “a number of occasions” that her husband deliberately drove the automotive off the cliff, the outlet reported, citing court docket data.

San Mateo County District Lawyer Steve Wagstaffe beforehand made comparable allegations about Patel’s intentions, telling Insider in January that Neha Patel “shouted out” to medics that her husband had purposefully tried to hurt the household.

Neha Patel instructed an emergency responder that her husband wanted a psych analysis, California Freeway Patrol officer Aaron Sapien wrote in a search warrant affidavit, based on The Chronicle, and one other responding officer remembered listening to her say that her husband drove the household off a cliff to attempt to “kill everybody.” 

Throughout a 20-minute interview with police after the incident, Patel instructed investigators he and his household had been driving to his brother’s home in Montara, California, when he observed his dashboard sensor was exhibiting low stress, based on The Chronicle’s evaluate of the court docket paperwork.

Patel stated the automotive “started to really feel completely different” because the household cruised down the freeway, Sapien reportedly wrote within the warrant; Patel stated he drove the Tesla over to a “dust path” to examine the tire air stress proper earlier than the automotive went over the cliff.

Investigators famous that Patel stated he wasn’t on any remedy or beneath the affect on the time of the crash, based on The Chronicle. 

“When requested if he felt depressed, he associated he was not likely depressed, he simply felt down as a result of occasions had been dangerous on the earth,” Sapien reportedly wrote within the search warrant. “When requested if he felt suicidal, he said, ‘you already know, not like a plan, not normally’ and associated that he was extra fearful concerning the world.”

California authorities ultimately rescued all 4 passengers by way of helicopter. Video of the daring rescue shows first responders dropping from the chopper to retrieve the relations amid the automotive’s wreckage and inserting them on gurneys that had been raised into the air one by one. 

Two witnesses instructed investigators they did not see the Tesla driver try and brake because the automobile “accelerated” towards the cliffside, based on court docket paperwork reviewed by NBC News. 

In February, an legal professional for Patel stated in court docket that the person’s spouse didn’t need him to be prosecuted. 

Neither an legal professional for Patel, nor the native district legal professional’s workplace instantly responded to Insider’s request for touch upon Friday.