An expert witness who may carry no legal weight.
AB Wire
NEW YORK: Despite the video which clearly showed the wrong that was done to Sureshbhai Patel, who was slammed to the ground without provocation by Alabama policeman Eric Parker, and became partially paralyzed, further foolhardiness is on the way in the form of an martial arts instructor who will try to justify the action of Parker, who was fired from the force.
The attorney for Parker will call the local martial arts instructor as an expert witness to justify a takedown that left a man partially paralyzed, reported whnt.com.
Parker is accused of violating the civil rights of Patel while investigating a call on February 6 in Madison, about a suspicious person walking in the neighborhood. That person was Patel, who had recently arrived from India, to help his son and daughter-in-law with their newborn child. Patel, who was not fluent in English, was out on a walk, and did not understand what Parker said to him, and tried to walk away, before he got tackled and was slammed face-first to the ground. The incident was recorded on patrol car video.
Parker was removed his job as a Madison Police Department officer, charged with misdemeanor assault and later charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with a civil rights violation; the trial for which will start on September 1. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley apologized to the Indian government for the incident, reported Al.com.
Now, Paker’s attorney Robert Tuten plans to call Johnny Lee Smith, president of Triad Martial Arts, Inc., as an expert witness in the area of police training, defensive tactics, and police use of force. The attorney plans to have Smith testify to justify the stop, frisk, and use of force against Patel.
In the filing, Parker’s attorney said, “Mr. Smith’s testimony is expected to opine that Officer Parker’s stop of Mr. Patel was justified; that reasonable suspicion existed for Officer Parker to conduct a ‘Terry Frisk’ of Mr. Patel; that Officer Parker was justified in using force against Mr. Patel; the amount of force used by Officer Parker was justified under the totality of the circumstances and complied with current law and department policy; and that it does not appear that Officer Parker intentionally tried to hurt Mr. Patel.”
Al.com reported that Triad Martial Arts, Inc. has locations in Cullman and Madison, according to its website. The site also includes Smith’s law enforcement training credentials, noting he has been a “Certified Specialized Instructor by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission since 2003,” has been providing defensive tactics training for Mississippi peace officers since 2010 and is a reserve police officer in Tupelo, Miss.
Patel’s attorney Hank Sherrod expressed doubt that Smith will be allowed to testify on Parker’s behalf.
“Just because Mr. Parker has hired an expert does not mean the expert will be allowed to testify,” Sherrod said. “Only expert testimony meeting certain reliability standards will be permitted by the judge. I suspect all or part of Mr. Smith’s testimony will be excluded.”
Parker, who is currently on paid administrative leave, has challenged his termination by the Madison Police Department. His employment appeal will go before a hearing officer following the resolution of his criminal case, according to Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey, reported Al.com.
6 Comments
nice job
Let this martial arts instructor testify ! It would show what’s wrong with slamming an unarmed compliant suspect. It’s obvious the this cop doesn’t know he had paralyzed this man already and no amount of loud shouts would make stand. Sad.
Paid leave? This is justice in murica, you get paid leave if you’re a cop and awaiting trial.
Parker will have a boy friend in prison and maybe they will end up taking showers together.
more scum in uniform.
He could not resist applying mixed martial arts move of slamming him to the ground. The problem is that Mr. PATEL is not trained to guard against this tactic. Similar case to tennis star Mr. Blake in NYC.