Sureshbhai Patel is paralyzed after an unprovoked attack by police.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A 57-year old Indian citizen, newly arrived in the United States, has been left partially paralyzed after police in Alabama slammed him against the ground unprovoked, according to the man’s attorney.
Sureshbhai Patel, a permanent resident of the U.S., had just arrived one week prior before the incident transpired. His son, Chirag Patel, had flown his father from the small Indian town of Pij to live with him and his family in the affluent suburb of Huntsville in Alabama. The elderly Patel was to help his son’s wife care for their new baby, a 17-month-old son, so he could pursue his masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama.
While the victim was out for a leisurely stroll around his new neighborhood on the morning of February 6, he was approached by two police officers who stated they were responding to a call about a suspicious person.
Unfortunately for the senior Patel, when the officers began questioning him all he could respond with was “no English” and “India” as he pointed to his son’s residence and repeated the house number.
Upon realizing they could not communicate with Patel, the civil servants began to frisk him, which is when they claim he put his hands in his pockets. It was at that point one of the officers “slammed him to the ground,” recounted Henry F. Sherrod, Patel’s lawyer.
The assault left Patel bleeding profusely, paralyzed, and in need of surgery to fuse two vertebrae, the Alabama Media Group reported.
The Madison police department issued a statement on Monday disclosing the officer responsible for attacking Patel had been suspended and was being investigated by Internal Affairs for his use of force.
The Patel family has decided to sue for damages, including medical bills, which will likely exceed $100,000, Sherrod told Al-Jazeera America. The Patels are also suing to obtain audio and video footage taken by the police officers during the incident, which has not been released to the public because the Madison police designate it as evidence in an ongoing investigation.
While Sherrod told Al-Jazeera that thinks Sureshbhai Patel was brutalized “because he looked brown,” he also believes it could happen to anyone, regardless of race or walk of life.
“It just takes a little bit of a miscommunication and the officer thinks violence is the solution,” Sherrod said.
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