California doctor Dharmesh Arvind Patel who allegedly drove family off cliff pleads not guilty to attempted murder

A 41-year-old Indian-origin man accused of intentionally driving a Tesla off a cliff with his wife and two children inside pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges in a Redwood City courthouse on Thursday.

"He is charged with three counts of pre-meditated and deliberate attempted murder," said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher. "We believe the evidence will show him intentionally driving his family off a cliff with the intent to kill them."

Dharmesh Arvind Patel entered his not-guilty plea when he appeared in a Redwood City courthouse on Thursday.

If convicted, Patel could get life in prison for allegedly trying to kill his family.

Patel was driving with his wife and two young children along a scenic but treacherous stretch of Highway 1 near San Francisco on January 02 when his car left the road and plummeted to the shoreline some 250 feet (75 meters) below.

Despite the precipitous drop and visible heavy damage sustained by the vehicle, all four passengers survived. Emergency personnel rappelled down to the wreck, and helicopters were called in to help airlift the family safety.

The California Highway Patrol earlier told AFP Patel had been arrested at Stanford Hospital, and would be transferred to a nearby county jail upon his release from treatment.

"CHP investigators worked throughout the night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene," the agency said in a statement.

"Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act."

The stretch of coastline roughly 20 miles south of central San Francisco is known for crashes, and rescue officials said it was extremely rare for anyone to survive such a steep fall.

Damage to the vehicle indicated it had hit the cliff and flipped over several times during its plunge.

Emergency responders who arrived at the scene at first believed no one would have survived, but spotted movement through the car's busted windshield and began a rescue operation involving several helicopters.

"We were actually very shocked when we found survivable victims in the vehicle," said Brian Pottenger, incident commander for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The seven-year-old girl and four-year-old boy sustained only "moderate injuries," he said.

Officials have not determined whether the Tesla was in automatic driving mode, but "that does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident," said the statement.

Patel works as a physician at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, in Pasadena, Los Angeles.

A spokesman said in a statement to AFP that the hospital "is deeply saddened to learn of a traffic incident involving one of our physicians and his family."

"We are extremely grateful there were no severe injuries. We will not respond further, as this incident is under investigation," he said.