Alabama police officer assaults, paralyses Indian grandfather

A police officer in the US state of Alabama has been arrested and is under investigation by the FBI after he threw an elderly man from India to the ground, leaving him temporarily paralyzed.

Officer Eric Parker from Madison, Alabama was fired on Thursday and charged with assault for throwing 57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel to the ground during a morning walk near his son's home.

The brutal incident, which was recorded from inside a patrol vehicle, left Patel severely injured and required surgery to relieve pressure on his spinal cord.

On Thursday, Patel filed a lawsuit against the city of Madison and the white officer who assaulted him, alleging he was treated violently because of his dark skin, according to his attorney.

Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey apologized to Patel and his family at a news conference on Thursday and said the FBI was investigating to see if police violated the victim’s civil rights due to his race.

Patel’s son, Chirag Patel, , who arrived in the United States a decade ago to study engineering, blamed the police for escalating the incident, not his father.

“He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time,” said Chirag. “They put him to the ground.”

Patel, who speaks no English, moved from India to the Southern US state of Alabama nearly two weeks ago to help his son's family care for a 17-month-old child, said his lawyer, Henry Sherrod.

He was walking on the sidewalk outside his son’s home, when a neighbor called police to report about a “skinny black guy” that he’s “never seen before” in the neighborhood.

When police officers stopped Patel, he told them “No English, Indian.” A police officer then violently pushed Patel, who weighs about 130 pounds, to the ground, causing partial paralysis.

Police on Thursday released a video of the incident. The chilling video shows officers trying to lift Patel to his feet but his knees buckle and the officers put him back to the ground.

“I just can’t believe what they did to this very gentle man who wanted nothing more than to go out for a walk,” his lawyer said.

Police brutality and the unnecessary use of heavy-handed tactics, as well as the racial profiling of some minorities, have become a major concern across the US in recent years.

The death of several unarmed black men by the hands of white police officers last summer triggered months of protests and clashes between police and demonstrators across the US.

AHT/AGB

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