An Indian-origin doctor who drove his Tesla off a cliff in the US with his wife and children inside allegedly suffered from major depressive disorder and was reportedly experiencing a “psychotic break” at the time of the incident.
California-based Dharmesh Patel was charged in January last year with three counts of attempted murder after he drove the family’s Tesla off the cliff at Devil’s Slide on Highway 1 near Half Moon Bay, according to prosecutors. Patel, his wife, Neha, and their children, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy at the time, miraculously survived. The latest hearing on Wednesday was a response to a request from Patel, who is seeking a mental health diversion in his case.
Hallucinations
Patel, 43, was experiencing hallucinations, hearing footsteps and believed his children had been sex trafficked, two doctors testified at a hearing on Wednesday in Redwood City. Wednesday’s hearing was a response to an earlier request from Patel who is seeking a mental health diversion in his case, the New York Post newspaper reported. If a judge grants the doctors’ request, Patel would be placed on a two-year treatment plan instead of receiving jail time.
Patel’s charges would be dropped if he doesn’t commit any crimes during the proposed treatment plan. At the time of the crash, the doctors testified, Patel was experiencing a psychotic episode in which he believed that his children might be sex trafficked, Los Angeles Times newspaper quoted District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe as saying. Doctors testified for the defence. If Patel is placed in the mental diversion program, James Armontrout, a Stanford psychiatric clinician, will oversee the treatment.
“I see him as someone who is very motivated and amenable to treatment,” psychologist Mark Patterson testified at the hearing. Patterson’s diagnosis of Patel came after a series of 18 tests were conducted and he spoke with the doctor and his siblings. Prosecutors oppose diversion in the case, arguing that the prosecution’s doctor found Patel is not suffering from a major depressive disorder with a psychotic feature, but from a different disorder, known as schizoaffective, and that the defence’s proposed treatment plan will not be effective.
Prosecutors believe the case should remain in court. Wagstaffe worried that if Patel is released he will not be monitored except in his meetings with doctors. “If he goes off his medication, how do you know? It’s not like being on probation or parole. It’s purely the visits with the psychiatrist,” he said. Patel’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, did not respond to a request for comment, the report said.
(With agency inputs)
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