The eyes of Dharmesh Patel, the man who allegedly tried to kill his family by driving a Tesla off a 250-foot cliff, appear bloodshot in his just-released mugshot.
The first glimpse of Patel since the horrific Jan. 2 crash shows the California doctor’s left eye almost completely filled with blood, which matches his ill-fitting prison garb.
The father of two also sports a scruffy beard as he stares, stone-faced, at the camera.
The 41-year-old was charged with three counts of attempted murder Monday for intentionally driving his wife and two children off a notoriously dangerous section of the Pacific Coast Highway known as the “Devil’s Slide” earlier this month. He also faces enhancements for great bodily injury and domestic violence.
Rescuers had to cut all four of the passengers — Patel, wife Neha, their 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son — from the mangled Tesla after it plummeted 250 feet onto the rocky beach.
Luckily, the entire family survived the crash in what officials are calling a “miracle.”
Neha was conscious when paramedics tore open the smart car and reportedly screamed that her husband had “intentionally tried to kill us.”
She and her daughter are still in the hospital recovering from unspecified serious injuries, though her son walked away from the crash with just bruises.
Patel — a radiologist at a Southern California hospital — had been hospitalized with “serious lower body injuries” until Friday, when he was booked into San Mateo County jail.
Investigators are still considering what led to the plummet. Officials don’t believe the Tesla was in self-drive mode and the car showed no signs of mechanical failure.
A video taken from a tunnel shows Patel “making a sharp right turn over the cliff” and an eyewitness said Patel didn’t try to brake.
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“We’re looking into what led up to this. Was there depression or anything else?” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
“It wasn’t just that he was trying to kill them, he was trying to kill himself too.”
