The driver of a car that plunged off a cliff at Devil's Slide, seriously injuring himself, his wife and their two young children, was charged Monday with attempted murder.
Dharmesh A. Patel, 41, also faces enhancements for great bodily injury and domestic violence in the Jan. 2 crash, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Patel had an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
The Pasadena man was seriously injured and taken to a hospital after the car went over the 250-foot cliff at Devil’s Slide, an area along the Pacific Coast Highway about 15 miles south of San Francisco that is known for deadly wrecks. He was recently moved to a jail.
Rescuers initially hailed the family’s survival as a miracle. Firefighters had to cut open the Tesla Model Y to extract the family, including Patel’s 41-year-old wife, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.
Patel was later arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators “developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,” the agency said.
Wagstaffe said he decided to charge based on eyewitness accounts, the wife making possibly incriminating statements to paramedics and traffic video from the nearby tunnel.
"There are cameras on that so we have video showing the movement of the car after it left the tunnel, went up the hill, turned off of the road and then turned to go down the cliff," Wagstaffe said.
The judge issued a no harassment order to limit Patel’s contact with his family and especially his wife, who has yet to speak to prosecutors.
"I will simply say I am hopeful that she will want to help all of us get to the truth of what happened here," Wagstaffe said.
In the meantime, Patel will remain in custody with no bail. He is scheduled to return to court to enter a plea on Feb. 9.
