{"id":390382,"date":"2026-07-08T09:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/390382\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:58:28","slug":"california-radiologist-dharmesh-patel-cleared-of-attempted-murder-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/390382\/","title":{"rendered":"California radiologist Dharmesh Patel cleared of attempted murder charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\">Attempted murder charges against <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374597\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/west\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">a California radiologist<\/a> who allegedly intentionally drove his vehicle with his family off a cliff were dismissed Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\">A San Mateo County judge tossed the charges against Dharmesh Patel, 45, following reports from doctors that he was doing well in the mental health program he was initially ordered to complete, <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374598\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/dharmesh-patel-devils-slide-crash-charges-dismissed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">FOX San Francisco<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">In July 2024, Patel, who worked in Pasadena, was ordered to complete a two-year mental health diversion program while living at his parents&#8217; Belmont home on a GPS monitor.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374599\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/luigi-mangione-bails-psychiatric-defense-unitedhealthcare-ceo-assassination-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">LUIGI MANGIONE BAILS ON PSYCHIATRIC DEFENSE IN UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO ASSASSINATION CASE<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VID-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Tesla sedan at the scene of the crash\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The Tesla sedan driven by Dharmesh Patel, 45, at the scene of the northern California crash where he and his family all survived. (Credit: California Highway Patrol &#8211; Golden Gate Division Air Operations \/ LOCAL NEWS X \/TMX)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">In January 2023, he was driving his Tesla on the Pacific Coast Highway in San Mateo County when he drove off Devil&#8217;s Slide in Pacifica, plunging him and his family 300 feet.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">First responders were forced to cut his family, including Patel&#8217;s 41-year-old wife, 7-year-old daughter, and 4-year-old son, out of the wreckage. Everyone survived.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">At the time of the incident, <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374600\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/health\/mental-health\/psychosis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Patel was having delusions<\/a> driven by the war in Ukraine and the growing fentanyl crisis in the United States, his lawyers argued during a 2024 court hearing.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374601\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/game-of-thrones-star-mistook-psychiatric-hospital-palace-joining-wellness-cult\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">&#8216;GAME OF THRONES&#8217; STAR SAYS SHE MISTOOK PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL FOR A PALACE AFTER JOINING WELLNESS CULT<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dharmesh-Patel-001.jpg\" alt=\"Dharmesh Patel and his fmaily\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Dharmesh Patel, 45, had his first-degree attempted murder charges dismissed by a California judge this week. Patel was charged after allegedly intentionally driving a vehicle with his wife and two young children inside off a Northern California cliff. All four survived. (San Mateo County Sheriff&#8217;s Office via AP)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Patel\u2019s greatest delusion, according to a psychologist, was his fear that his children could be kidnapped and molested, which appeared somehow connected to his concerns <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374602\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/jeffrey-epstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">about Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Shortly after the crash, Patel&#8217;s wife, Neha, said her husband &#8220;did it on purpose&#8221; and needed a &#8220;psych evaluation.&#8221; In addition, she said her husband was depressed, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;He said he was going to drive off the cliff,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374603\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/man-charged-attempted-murder-released-allegedly-forcing-toddler-crocodile-enclosure-zoo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">MAN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER, RELEASED AFTER ALLEGEDLY FORCING TODDLER INTO CROCODILE ENCLOSURE AT ZOO<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dharmesh-Patel-002.jpg\" alt=\"Dharmesh Patel mugshot\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Dharmesh Patel was charged with first-degree attempted murder for allegedly driving a vehicle with his family inside off a cliff. (San Mateo County Sheriff&#8217;s Office via AP)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, who opposed Patel\u2019s placement in the diversion program, criticized the decision <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374604\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/entertainment\/genres\/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">to dismiss the case<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;He got the break of a lifetime,&#8221; Wagstaffe told the <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_us_article_main-content_article-body_6_2374605\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2026\/07\/06\/attempted-murder-charges-dismissed-against-radiologist-accused-of-driving-family-off-cliff-near-devils-slide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mercury News.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">After the ruling, Patel embraced his wife, and they left the courtroom together, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Fox News Digital has reached out to the district attorney&#8217;s office and Patel&#8217;s attorney.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Fox News Digital&#8217;s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Attempted murder charges against a California radiologist who allegedly intentionally&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,723,1090],"class_list":["post-390382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-crime","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}