Dharmesh Patel: Doc accused of driving Tesla off cliff with 'intent to kill' wife and two children pleads not guilty
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA: A California doctor, who allegedly tried to take the lives of his wife and their two minor children, has pleaded not guilty to charges pressed against him. Dharmesh Patel’s stand came on Thursday, February 9, in a Redwood City courthouse after he was slapped with three counts of pre-meditated and deliberate attempted murder charges following his arrest.
But San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher suggests he will soon be convicted for allegedly intentionally driving his Tesla off 'Devil's Side' cliff in California’s San Mateo County in early January. The vehicle went 250 to 300ft down while the 42-year-old man was inside it along with his 41-year-old wife Neha and two children — a 7-year-old daughter, and a 4-year-old son. “We believe the evidence will show him intentionally driving his family off a cliff with the intent to kill them,” Gallagher told ABC 7.
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‘No contact with family’
Despite Patel not pleading guilty, he was reportedly not given bail and was ordered to be in custody by a judge. He has also been barred from making any contact with his family, who luckily survived the January 2 attempt, after Gallagher requested it. The Chief Deputy District Attorney explained, “That includes his wife and his two children. That's personal contact and then contact by him through a third party,” before adding, “We think it is prudent for the victims and the integrity of the case there be no contact between them and the defendant.”
Meanwhile, as per a defense attorney, the man’s wife, Neha, is against going forward with the case. But Gallagher told KRON 4, “Regardless of whether she is cooperative, we believe we have sufficient evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” as he went on to state that the case is a “very dynamic situation whenever you have this violence within a family setting.” The accused will reportedly appear in the San Mateo County Hall of Justice on March 20 for a preliminary hearing. It has been said that if found guilty of the charges, he could have to spend the rest of his life in prison cells.
‘But then, why did he do this?’
This comes after San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told PEOPLE in early February that Neha told the paramedics at the site of the accident that her husband “intentionally tried to kill us”. Wagstaffe continued, “She made that statement when asked, 'What happened? What happened?’ 'He intentionally tried to kill us.' … We have multiple people who heard her say that.”
The DA also shared at the time, “There were three people that we believe he was trying to kill. He also wanted to kill himself, obviously. And so, that was an effort to be a murder-suicide. Why would he do this? I'm now convinced that this was an intentional act by him. But then, why did he do this? Why did he want to kill the three people he, one would assume, loved the most in human life?”
“I am convinced that, on the evidence, we have at this point, it was an intentional act. Now, again, multiple things could occur, and this happens in criminal cases where the family comes forward and they give us a description of some things that put a different light on it. Or the wife comes forward and says, 'Let me tell you what occurred and to explain it.’ Or the CHP MAIT team comes back and says, 'Look it, there was a mechanical difficulty with the vehicle.' So the facts, the whole story, is not out yet,” Wagstaffe concluded.