After a extremely technical operation on the coastal San Mateo County roadway, a 7-year-old lady, a 4-year-old boy and two adults, each 41, had been pulled from the wreckage alive however critically injured. Rescue officers known as it a miracle.
Now, investigators say they imagine the car’s driver, Dharmesh Arvind Patel, drove the Tesla off the cliff deliberately. He was arrested on suspicion of tried homicide and little one abuse, the California Freeway Patrol mentioned late Tuesday. Patel shall be despatched to San Mateo County jail after hospital therapy. A lawyer for Patel couldn’t instantly be recognized.
The California Freeway Patrol mentioned it had not decided what driving mode the Tesla was in, however it didn’t “seem like a contributing issue on this incident.”
The rescue operation started about 11 a.m. Monday on the stretch of freeway known as Satan’s Slide, about 15 miles south of San Francisco. Opened in 1937, the highway has lengthy been thought-about perilous, winding alongside a rocky cliff with a sheer drop-off to the ocean. Authorities made adjustments, together with including tunnels that bypass a harmful portion of the highway, however fatalities have continued, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in June.
At the very least 30 deaths occurred alongside the roadway between 1990 and 2021, the newspaper reported, citing a overview of stories tales over that interval, which doesn’t seize each demise. Others have managed to outlive, including a driver who suffered mild to moderate injuries after driving off the road in November.
“Any time we see a car drive off a cliff and down such a steep cliffside, seeing individuals survive is unbelievable,” California Freeway Patrol Officer Andrew Barclay advised The Washington Submit.
