A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse after a Tesla car was driven off a cliff in California – an act that investigators believe was ‘intentional’.
The Tesla plunged 250ft off a cliffside along California’s Pacific Coast Highway on 2 January, crashing onto a rocky beach below.
Miraculously, the passengers – two adults and two children – survived the fall, which took place in an area dubbed ‘Devil’s Slide’.
All four were conscious when they were taken to hospital.
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Brian Pottenger, battalion chief with California Fire’s Coastside Fire Protection District, said: “Accidents on that cliff are not rare. We do respond to a lot of vehicles on that cliff.
"What’s rare is that we do not get a lot of survivors – surviving this type of accident is very rare.”
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California Highway Patrol has now confirmed that Dharmesh Arvind Patel, 42, of Pasadena, has been arrested and will be booked on attempted murder and child abuse charges once he is out of hospital.
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The other passengers have not yet been named, with charging documents showing that the other adult was a 41-year-old woman, while the two children were a girl, aged seven, and a boy, aged four.
The CHP said: "CHP investigators worked throughout the night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene. Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act.”
It added that officials are continuing to investigate the crash, saying there ‘has been no determination as to what driving mode the Tesla was in’.
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Tesla vehicles have both a self-driving feature and a manual option, but the CHP said the driving mode ‘does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident'.
In an earlier statement, Pottenger had explained how the children were both secured in car seats, which remained intact when they were taken to hospital.
“The damage to the vehicle would indicate that it hit, and then flipped several times,” he said.
As the rescue mission took place, Pottenger said they noticed 'movement' that indicated that at least one person had survived.
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“As we were doing that, we were able to notice movement in the front seat through the windshield,” he continued.
“So we knew that we had at least one person that was alive.”
The children were rescued first using a rope to lift them out of the vehicle and up the cliff, meanwhile, a helicopter later lifted the adults to safety.
UNILAD has reached out to Tesla for comment.
Jess Hardiman