A doctor accused of intentionally driving a Tesla off a 250-foot California cliff with another adult and 2 kids inside the car has been arrested

• A doctor has been arrested after police charged him with intentionally driving a Tesla off a cliff.
• The man's wife and two kids were reportedly inside the vehicle at the time of the incident.

A California doctor has been arrested after investigators said he intentionally drove a Tesla off a notorious 250-foot cliff in the state with another adult and two kids inside the vehicle, seriously wounding them and himself, according to authorities.

Dharmesh Patel, the 42-year-old Pasadena resident driving the car, is facing charges of attempted murder and child abuse in connection to the Monday car wreck, the California Highway Patrol said in a statement on Tuesday night.

"CHP investigators worked throughout the night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene," the law-enforcement agency said. "Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act."

Patel, a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, and the passengers inside the Tesla miraculously survived and were rescued via helicopter after the vehicle plunged off a cliff known as Devil's Slide in Northern California on Monday, Cal Fire said. Brian Pottenger, the battalion chief of the Coastside Fire Protection District, told Fox News it was "nothing short of a miracle that they survived."

The passengers inside the car were reportedly Patel's wife, his 7-year-old daughter, and his 4-year-old son, KABC-TV reported.

Emergency personnel took them all to a local hospital with serious injuries, the highway patrol said. However, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet that the children were "unharmed." NBC reported that the adults were taken to the hospital in critical condition upon recovery, but were later found to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

According to CHP, Patel is being treated for his injuries and will be booked into San Mateo County Jail after he is released from the hospital.

It is unclear whether the car was using Tesla Autopilot, the automaker's driver-assist system, but investigators said it "does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident." Robin Johnson, who said she witnessed the crash, told NBC on Monday that she saw the Tesla "driving extremely fast" toward an exit on California Highway 1 before the electric car went "over the edge and straight down" the cliff.

Insider was unable to contact Patel for comment ahead of publication, and it was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney. CHP said the investigation is ongoing.