A 41 year old man from California has been arrested on multiple charges after he crashed off Highway 1 south of the Tom Lantos Tunnel with three passengers
A 41 year old man from California was placed under arrest on several charges Tuesday after he planned to drive off a cliff with his three passengers, authorities said.
A white car was traveling south on Highway 1 just south of the Tom Lantos Tunnel when it went off the road on Monday. It plunged at least 250 feet below that road, and a dramatic rescue mission ensued to ensure the occupants were taken out of the car safely.
Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with the Cal Fire’s Coastside Fire Protection District said an adult woman, a 9-year-old boy, and a 4-year-old girl were in the car with the driver when the crash happened.
The highway patrol said that they were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office previously said in a social media post that the children were “unharmed.”
Patel was later arrested after California Highway Patrol investigators “developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,” the agency said.
The driver from Pasadena was arrested for attempted murder and child endangering. He will be booked into the San Mateo County Jail after his hospital treatment is over, the highway patrol said.
The accident happened on a semiautomatic Tesla that was hit and flipped several times, and the two children were rescued by a helicopter
Pottters explained that damage to the vehicle indicated that it hit and flipped several times. He said that the car rested on its wheels.
“There has been no determination as to what driving mode the Tesla was in; however, that does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident,” the highway patrol said.
Upon first-responders arrival, all four occupants were conscious, and the two children were secured into their car seats that remained intact, according to Pottenger. They were all trapped inside the car.
The helicopter video that the highway patrol posted shows the rescuer being lowered on a cable to the crash site after surf crashed against the rocks.
“As we were doing that, we were able to notice movement in the front seat through the windshield,” Pottenger said. We knew that we had at least one person that was still alive.
The two children were freed and brought up the cliff with baskets. Two adults were saved by a helicopter.
The man who crashed his car off a cliff, grievously wounding himself and his wife and two young children, is charged with attempted murder
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The man who drove his car off a cliff, grievously wounding himself and his wife and their two young children, was charged with attempted murder.
The San Mateo County District Attorney said in a statement that Patel could be facing enhancements for great bodily injury and domestic violence.
Witness statements from family and motorists, and video footage from the nearby Tom Lantos tunnels provided enough evidence to charge the father of two, Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The wife was “screaming” to paramedics after they rappelled down the cliff to save the family. He declined to share what she said.
Patel was scheduled to be arraigned Monday but Bentley asked for a delay until Feb. 9, which the judge granted. The prosecution was granted no bail and the judge ordered that he stay away from his family.
Patel, a radiologist at a Southern California hospital, was seriously injured and taken to a hospital after the car went over the 250-foot (76-meter) cliff at Devil’s Slide, an area along the Pacific Coast Highway about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of San Francisco that is known for deadly wrecks. On Friday, he was moved to jail.
The family’s survival was hailed as a miracle by rescuers. Firefighters had to cut open the Tesla Model Y to extract the family, including Patel’s 41-year-old wife, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.
His office was attempting to understand why an individual drove off a cliff. The investigators haven’t spoken with the man since the crash.
We’re looking into what happened. Was there any depression or something else? “He said that.” “It wasn’t just that he was trying to kill them, he was trying to kill himself too.”