An Indian-American man in California, Dharmesh Patel, who allegedly drove his Tesla off a cliff together with his household onboard, has been sentenced to psychological well being therapy as an alternative of jail time below a “psychological well being diversion” ruling in California.

Patel, who had been serving jail time because the incident in January final 12 months, drove his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff referred to as Satan’s Slide on Freeway 1, together with his spouse Neha and their two younger kids, aged 7 and 4, inside. Miraculously, the household survived the crash. Patel, described as having ‘suicidal’ tendencies, suffers from schizoaffective dysfunction and main depressive dysfunction, main him to imagine his household was vulnerable to being intercourse trafficked, in accordance with testimonies from US psychologists.

Two docs testified in April that Patel skilled a psychotic break on January 2, 2023, the day of the incident. Patel was charged with three counts of tried homicide, to which he pleaded ‘not responsible,’ claiming a technical malfunction prompted the Tesla to veer off the cliff. His spouse later testified that she didn’t need him prosecuted.

On Thursday (27), a US court docket authorised Patel for a “psychological well being diversion” program, permitting defendants with important psychological sickness to obtain therapy as an alternative of imprisonment. Superior Courtroom Decide Susan M. Jakubowski made the choice based mostly on medical evaluations and launched Patel into his mother and father’ custody in California.

Patel shall be monitored through GPS, required to test in with the court docket weekly, and should give up his license and passport. The following court docket listening to is scheduled for July 1.