The wife of a California radiologist who allegedly drove his Tesla over an infamous California cliff on Jan. 2 with his family inside the vehicle doesn’t want him prosecuted, the man’s lawyer reportedly said in court last week.
Dharmesh Arvind Patel, 40, was charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with the crash that involved his 41-year-old wife Neha and two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy.
At a court hearing last week where Patel pleaded not guilty, his defense attorney Josh Bentley said Neha did not want her husband to face prosecution, KNTV reported.
Neha allegedly told paramedics after they had plunged down the 250-foot cliff that “he [Dharmesh] intentionally tried to kill us,” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe previously told PEOPLE.
“She made that statement when asked, ‘What happened? What happened?’” Wagstaffe said. “’He intentionally tried to kill us.’ … We have multiple people who heard her say that.”
Neha “didn’t get into detail. She was then quickly rendered medical aid and that was the statements from her,” he said.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher said prosecutors plan to move ahead with the case.
“Regardless of whether she is cooperative, we believe we have sufficient evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said, according to KNTV.
“We have collected some evidence but the investigation will go on and we think it will establish the motive in this case,” Gallagher said, KNTV reported.
The crash occurred on a notorious stretch of highway known as the Devil’s Slide in San Mateo County, near Pacifica, along the famous Highway 1, which runs the length of California’s coastline. The Devil’s Slide has been the site of a number of fatalities over the past five decades.
Patel and his wife were both injured in the crash. Wagstaffe said one of the couple’s children was hospitalized with injuries. The other child sustained “bumps and bruises, but no injuries.”
Patel was charged after authorities spoke to “two separate drivers behind him who watched what occurred and were able to provide information about lack of brake lights,” Wagstaffe said.
Authorities also found video from the nearby Tom Lantos tunnels that “clearly shows his car coming out of the tunnel, going up the hill, making a right turn off the road into a dirt area at the top,” he said. “And then a sharp right turn down and over the edge and down the cliff.”
The Tesla is currently being examined by the California Highway Patrol’s Major Accident Investigation Team [MAIT].
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 20.
