"He drove off. He's depressed," Neha Patel told a California Highway Patrol officer as she was flown away from the crash site, according to the Chronicle."He said he was going to drive off the cliff. He purposely drove off."
Dharmesh Patel, 41, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder. He is in custody without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 12, at which time a judge will decide if there's enough evidence to move ahead with a trial. Patel was driving his white 2021 Tesla Model Y along the Pacific Coast Highway south of San Francisco when the car plunged several hundred feet off the cliff at Devil's Slide. Firefighters had to cut the family out of the wreckage.
The warrant affidavit includes an interview with Patel while he was recovering from major lower body injuries. In the interview, he said his wife was irritated shortly before the plunge off the cliff because she didn't want to stop at his brother's house in San Mateo County before making their drive home to the Los Angeles area, the Chronicle reported.
He said he was not really depressed but that he felt down because times were bad in the world, according to the affidavit.In: