10
Loading video...
By Gerrard Kaonga
US News Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A California husband and father has been arrested for allegedly intentionally driving his family off a cliff inside their Tesla, according to reports.
Police have said 41-year-old Dharmesh Patel of Pasadena, California, attempted to kill his family on Monday by driving them off a 250-foot cliff at Devil's Slide in the County of San Mateo.
The entire family was rescued and no one suffered serious injuries, but all four were taken to the hospital, according to a NDTV report.
Read More
Tesla Stock Falls to All-Time Low for Year Amid Musk Twitter Controversies3 min read
Electric School Bus Popularity Growing, But Conversions Are Cheaper5 min read
Experts Make 10 Bold Predictions About Electric Vehicles for 20237 min read
Driver Patel will face charges of attempted murder and child abuse after he leaves the hospital, following an investigation into the crash, according to a statement released by the California Highway Patrol.
...
"CHP investigators worked throughout the night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene," the statement read, according to theNew York Post.
"Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act."
California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Andrews also clarified that following their investigation, they don't believe that the Tesla was operating in Autopilot or Full Self-Driving mode, AP reported.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office tweeted images of the crash and the rescue efforts on Tuesday.
"This afternoon, deputies responded to a solo vehicle over the side of Highway 1 south of the Tom Lantos tunnel," the caption read.
"Two adults suffered non-life threatening injuries and two children were unharmed. Tremendous collaborative efforts."
Firefighters were able to rappel down the cliff and rescue the two children, a four-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy. A helicopter crew was used in order to rescue Patel and his wife.
Brian Pottenger, the Battalion Chief for Coastside Fire Protection District released a video to Twitter giving greater detail about the crash and the rescue effort.
"The damage to the vehicle would indicate it hit and then flipped several times, it landed mostly on its wheels.
"When we arrived on scene we knew we had one vehicle over the side, we could see the vehicle.
"We immediately went and put a plan in place to lower rescuers down to the vehicle to get eyes and assess what we had.
"As we were doing that, we were able to notice movement in the front seat through the windshield with binoculars, so we knew that we had at least one person that was alive."
Speaking about the overall experience he closed by saying: "We were actually very shocked when we found survivable victims in the vehicle."
Newsweek has contacted the The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office for comment.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines