Doctor accused of intentionally driving Tesla off cliff sent to jail

The physician and father accused of deliberately driving his Tesla off a California cliff together with his household inside has been launched from a hospital and despatched to jail – as investigators discover whether or not mechanical issues led to the crash.

Dharmesh Patel, 41, who’s being held with out bail, might be arraigned Monday afternoon if the San Mateo District Lawyer’s Workplace decides to cost him with tried homicide and youngster abuse.

In the meantime, District Lawyer Steve Wagstaffe final week stated investigators are also analyzing the Tesla Mannequin Y to rule out the potential of a mechanical drawback.

“Did the brakes fail? Have been the brakes working? Have been there some other mechanical malfunctions that will have led to him not with the ability to cease the automobile?” Wagstaffe informed the Los Angeles Instances.

“We’re having the automobile checked out from prime to backside,” he informed the paper.

Patel, a radiologist at Windfall Holy Cross Medical Heart in Los Angeles, is accused of deliberately driving his electrical automobile 250 ft off the infamous part of the Pacific Coast Freeway often called the “Satan’s Slide” on Jan. 2.

A motive has not been launched, although the California Freeway Patrol “developed possible trigger to imagine this incident was an intentional act,” officers have stated.

Firefighters have been pressured to chop the household, together with Patel’s 41-year-old spouse, Neha, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, out of the wreckage.

The case shocked neighbors, who described the Patels as an “idyllic” household that lived on the finish of a quiet cul-de-sac in Pasadena.

With Submit wires