A California father has been charged with three counts of attempted murder after he allegedly drove a car off a seaside cliff with his wife and two children inside earlier this month, prosecutors told court Monday. .
Prosecutors accuse Dharmesh Patel, 41, of intentionally swerving his Tesla off the Pacific Coast Highway called Devil’s Slide, causing the entire family to fall 250 feet onto a rocky beach below. All four people in the car survived.
Two of the three charges against Patel include domestic violence and serious bodily injury, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said during a news conference Monday.
Patel’s wife is still hospitalized because she sustained “serious injuries,” while the couple’s 7-year-old son was also injured, Wagstaffe said, though the extent of the boy’s injuries is unclear.
“However, miraculously, the four-year-old boy came away with only a few bruises, and that does not qualify for significant bodily injury,” Wagstaffe said, explaining why that was not included in the third count.
Although the victims were not named in the charging documents, the California Highway Patrol had previously said the passengers in the vehicle were the driver’s wife and his two children.
