Photo: San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office / Courtesy
The eyes of Dharmesh Patel, the man who allegedly tried to kill his family by driving a Tesla off a 250-foot cliff, appear bloodshot in his newly released mugshot.
The First look at Patel since the January 2 crash shows the California doctor’s left eye almost completely filled with bloodwhich matches the hue of his prison outfit.
The father of two also sports a scruffy beard as he stares stone-faced at the camera.
The A 41-year-old man was charged with three counts of attempted murder Monday for intentionally driving his wife and two children off a notoriously dangerous section of Pacific Coast Highway known as Devil’s Slide. earlier this month. He also faces charges for serious bodily injury and domestic violence.
Rescuers had to pull all four passengers — Patel, his wife Neha, their 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son — out of the wrecked Tesla after it plunged 250 feet onto the rocky beach.
Fortunately, the entire family survived the accident in what authorities called a “miracle.”
Neha was conscious when paramedics opened the smart car and reportedly yelled that her husband had “intentionally tried to kill them”.
She and her daughter are still in the hospital recovering from unspecified serious injuries, although her son emerged from the accident with only bruises.
Patel, a radiologist at a Southern California hospital, had been hospitalized with “serious lower body injuries” until Friday, when he was booked into the San Mateo County Jail.
Agents are still investigating what drove the car over the cliff. Authorities do not believe the Tesla was in self-driving mode and the car showed no signs of mechanical failure.
Video taken from a tunnel shows Patel “making a sharp right turn over the cliff” and a witness said he did not try to brake.
Rescuers had to open the car to get the Patels out.
“We are investigating what led to this. Was there depression or something else?” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. “It wasn’t just that he was trying to kill them, he was also trying to kill himself.”
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