Via Press Agree with of India: A 41-year-old Indian-origin physician in the United States who faces sentencing for allegedly making an attempt to kill his spouse and two minor kids via “purposely” riding his Tesla automobile off the Pacific Coast Freeway has requested for a psychological well being diversion as a substitute of a jail time period, a media record mentioned.
Dharmesh Patel used to be charged in Might with 3 counts of first-degree tried homicide after allegedly riding himself, his spouse, and their two kids — the 4-year-old boy and a 7-year-old lady — off the Satan’s Slide close to California Freeway 1 in his Tesla, KRON-TV reported on Saturday.
All of them survived the crash on January 3 this 12 months.
Patel’s spouse maintains that her husband instructed his circle of relatives he would power off the cliff earlier than the incident. The suspect claimed his Tesla Fashion Y used to be having tire problems when he drove off the 250-foot cliff in California.
“He drove off. He’s depressed,” Neha Patel mentioned in a sworn statement bought via the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. “He’s a physician. He mentioned he used to be going to power off the cliff. He purposely drove off.”
Patel pleaded no longer responsible and as a substitute requested for a psychological well being diversion on account of his primary depressive dysfunction (MDD) analysis, the record mentioned.
ALSO READ | Indian-origin guy drives Tesla off California cliff with spouse, 2 kids
To be eligible for the programme, a suspect’s psychological dysfunction must be a “major factor” within the prison act, California regulation says.
If members whole remedy inside the diversion programme, their fees may well be dropped and their arrest may well be expunged.
Homicide and voluntary manslaughter suspects are excluded from the diversion programme, however tried homicide isn’t explicitly dominated out.
After the programme is whole, the court docket comes to a decision if the former fees could be reinstated.
District Legal professional Steve Wagstaffe prior to now mentioned everybody within the automobile had to be pulled from the auto’s home windows. The boy used to be no longer injured, whilst Patel’s daughter sustained critical accidents however recovered temporarily.
Patel’s spouse, Neha “suffered one of the crucial critical accidents”, Wagstaffe defined.
Patel’s eligibility for the psychological well being diversion will probably be made up our minds on the finish of July.
Excluding that preliminary remark to paramedics, Wagstaffe mentioned witnesses and video photos from the Tom Lantos Tunnel, which Patel drove thru earlier than the crash, confirmed his Tesla riding directly off the cliff with out braking or making an attempt to serve to protection.
Investigators have been inspecting the Tesla to decide if there have been any mechanical problems with the automobile earlier than the crash, which might reinforce the defence’s argument in court docket. California officers believed Patel’s movements have been “intentional”.
ALSO READ | Tesla’s China leader turns into highest-profile govt after Elon Musk