BEHIND THE ACQUITTAL OF THE TESLA DRIVER FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER

A Long and Winding Road

This story goes back three years, to 2023, and involves a Tesla Model Y carrying two adults and two children. 

The car plunged 250-300 feet off of Highway 1, about 20 miles south of San Francisco, flipping several times before landing right-side up at the bottom in an area called the Devil’s Slide in San Mateo County, leaving the car virtually unrecognizable.

The driver of the car was Pasadena radiologist Dharmesh Patel and the passengers were his spouse and two children. Despite the violent end to his car, all of the occupants survived the crash without major injuries.

The incident capped a series of events involving Teslas that unexpectantly buoyed the reputation of the car’s safety (see LA Car’s “The 10 Best Tesla Commercials That Weren’t Really Commercials”).

Said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Coastside Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Brian Pottenger to CNN, 

“Accidents on that cliff are not rare. We do respond to a lot of vehicles on that cliff. What’s rare is that we do not get a lot of survivors. Surviving this type of accident is very rare.”

The Charges

Patel soon faced three counts of first-degree attempted murder. The charges were brought by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, led by District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. (Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press, July 7, 2026).

Prosecutors accused Patel of intentionally driving his Tesla Model Y off the coastal cliff with his wife and two young children inside. He was also initially arrested on suspicion of child endangerment.

Diversion 

Patel’s defense counsel, Joshua Bentley, sought to have him admitted into a diversion program.

A criminal diversion program is an alternative sentencing option that allows eligible defendants to avoid traditional prosecution and jail time. 

The program is commonly sought on drug cases, where diversion can be an opportunity to treat the underlying health condition.

Criminal diversion programs significantly benefit participants, taxpayers, and communities by offering an alternative to traditional prosecution, drastically reducing reoffending rates, and lowering government spending. 

The key benefits of criminal diversion programs are structured below across individual, fiscal, and community levels.

For the participant, diversion programs preserve a clean record, improves career opportunities, avoids jail times, and addresses root causes. 

Successful completion typically resulting in the charges being dismissed. 

For the taxpayer and justice system, it’s a substantial cost savings, with some studies indicating every dollar invested in drug treatment (for instance) can yield $12 in societal savings.

Diversion also reduces court backlogs and optimizes resource allocation to resolve more serious crimes.

For the community, diversion programs can lower recidivism rates, with some studies showing participants are less likely to reoffend compared to those that receive traditional sentences.

In theory, communities become safer by rehabilitating individuals into healthy, tax-paying citizens. Moreover, participants often (but not always) pay victim restitution and complete community service, repairing the local harm caused by the offense.

Mental Health Diversion

Defense counsel Bentley first sought to have Patel admitted into a mental health diversion program in 2023 by arguing he had suffered a severe psychotic break and major depressive episode at the time of the crash. (Amy Larson, KRON4 News, May 10, 2024)

In 2024, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Susan Jakubowski ruled that Patel qualified for the state's mental health diversion program. (Natalie Musumeci, Business Insider, June 24, 2024).

The Diagnosis

Several factor weighed in on Judge Jakubowski’s ruling, including multiple defense psychologists evaluated Patel and diagnosed him with episodic major depressive disorder accompanied by severe psychotic hallucinations and delusions at the time of the crash. 

Experts testified that he suffered a "depression-level psychotic break" and believed his children were in danger of being kidnapped and trafficked. (Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2026).

Defense counsel successfully argued that this diagnosed mental health condition directly contributed to his behavior when he drove the vehicle off Devil's Slide. 

Patel also met the other conditions of diversion. He was a respected Pasadena radiologist with no prior criminal record. 

Diversion for Homicide Attempts

Diversion for homicide attempts is not an area with a lot of case law behind it. 

When the California mental health diversion law was enacted in 2023, attempted murder charges were not addressed. However, they were also not explicitly barred from eligibility. 

San Mateo County prosecutors heavily opposed the diversion (see Jakob Rodgers report in The Mercury News, July 6, 2026).

Despite strong objections, in July of 2024, the judge granted Patel entry into a court-ordered, two-year mental health diversion program. 

The Court Findings

While undergoing the two-year treatment plan, Patel was subjected to court-supervised rules, including: 

Intensive, mandatory outpatient treatment with a Stanford University psychiatrist and a family therapist (Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press, July 7, 2026).

Movement was restricted to a residence in San Mateo County via an active GPS ankle monitor.

Mandatory compliance checks through the mental health court on a weekly basis, and undergo drug and medication testing twice a week. 

Patel was forced to surrender his passport and driver's license. Additionally, Patel surrendered his California medical license to the state's medical board. 

Although initially kept separated, Patel's wife testified that she forgave him, did not want him prosecuted, and wanted the family reunited. The court ultimately softened restrictions, allowing supervised family visits and shared drives before the final case dismissal. (Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press, July 7, 2026).

An Uphill Climb

Because the diversion was successfully completed, his criminal record for the 2023 Devil’s Slide incident is expunged, leaving a few uncertainties: 

Patel's spouse has expressed forgiveness and requested that he not be prosecuted, there remain ongoing concerns among victim advocates and legal experts regarding potential domestic pressure or long-term safety, especially given her initial statements to first responders that he drove off the cliff deliberately. 

The future custody arrangements and psychological well-being of everyone continues to be a concern as the family attempts to reintegrate Patel into their household. 

Patel officially surrendered his California medical license to the Medical Board of California. Whether he petition for reinstatement, and if licensing boards in other states or countries will permit him to practice in the future remains an uncertainty.

Civil lawsuits or liability claims remain a potential concern. 

Public Safety and Recidivism

Having surrendered his driver’s license during his legal proceedings, it remains uncertain if the California DMV will fully restore his driving privileges, or under what strict medical conditions he would be allowed to operate a vehicle again.

With diversion programs, there is always the risk moving forward of a possible relapse, however small. Much depends on family and community support moving forward from here. 

* The editor is a retired attorney with 35 years of practice. He once served as a counselor for a diversion program.