Radiologist completes two-year diversion in Devil’s Slide plunge
Prosecutors charged Patel with attempted murder after he drove his Tesla off the 250-foot (76-meter) cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway, a stretch known as Devil’s Slide, on Jan. 2, 2023. The crash injured his wife and their two young children. All four survived the fall in what one official described as an “absolute miracle.”
A San Mateo County judge dismissed the charges Monday after Patel completed a two-year mental health diversion program with a Stanford University psychiatrist and a family therapist this week, Wagstaffe said.
“The judge was required by the law to dismiss the charges,” Wagstaffe said.
California’s mental health diversion law permits certain defendants to seek treatment in lieu of prosecution. The statute requires the court to dismiss charges once a defendant who has been accepted into the program successfully completes its terms.