Indian roughed up by police in Alabama; officer suspended

Sureshbhai Patel, a 57- year old Indian, who came to the US two weeks ago, was roughed up by the Madison, Alabama police, for no crime, a report in www.al.com said. He is temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae.

He was just walking on the sidewalk outside his son Chirag Patel’s s home. ‘He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time. They put him to the ground,’ Chirag told the paper.

A statement by the police said officer was suspended and authorities are investigating the use of force. The statement also wished him a ‘speedy recovery.’

‘This is a good neighborhood. I didn't expect anything to happen,’ Chirag Patel, who recently bought the new house on Hardiman Place Lane.

Chirag, an engineer for a government contractor in Huntsville, brought his father from Pij in Gujarat to his new home to help his wife care for their baby as he planned to   join for a masters degree  in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Madison police said they received a call early Friday about a man looking in garages.

‘The caller, who lives in the neighborhood did not recognize the subject and thought him to be suspicious,’ the statement said.   

Hank Sherrod, attorney for the Patels, said the man was not walking on other people's property nor looking in garages.

‘This is broad daylight, walking down the street. There is nothing suspicious about Mr. Patel other than he has brown skin,’ said Sherrod.

But Sureshbhai Patel does not speak English, this being only his second trip to the United States. He had arrived less than two weeks ago.

The statement by Madison police refers to a communication barrier as Sureshbhai does not speak English.

When the police approached him, he said ‘no English’  and repeated his son's house number.

Then the officer started to frisk him. The police statement said, ‘The subject began putting his hands in his pockets. Officers attempted to pat the subject down and he attempted to pull away. The subject was forced to the ground, which resulted in injury.’

Attorney Sherrod said he spoke with Sureshbhai Patel at Huntsville Hospital. He told him that there were two officers and that Patel was patted down and did not pull away. Sherrod said one officer then pulled Patel's arm up behind him and slung him face first into the ground. He said Patel could not say what happened after that.

‘This is just one of those things that doesn't need to happen,’ said Sherrod, saying the police escalated to violence without cause and left Patel lying bleeding from his face, paralyzed and in need of paramedics. ‘That officer doesn't need to be on the streets.’

He was taken by ambulance to Madison Hospital. Hospital staff called his son at work. Due to swelling in the spine, Sureshbhai was transferred to Huntsville Hospital for surgery to fuse two vertebrae.

Chirag said his father can now move his right leg a little bit, but the left remains paralyzed. He said his father can raise both arms, but cannot make a tight grip.

Sherrod, a civil rights attorney from Florence, said the Patel family will sue, but has not yet filed.

Capt John Stringer, spokesman for Madison Police, said there are both audio and video recordings of the stop but would not be released to the public at this time.

Police have also refused to identify the officers involved in the stop.

Chirag came to the United States about 10 years ago to study engineering, and later married a US Citizen.

Chirag said he was proud of his new home in Madison. ‘It is a dream for me because I came from a very poor family and I worked so hard here.’ He said he chose Madison because of the schools and the opportunities for his son.

‘I'm very devastated that I might have made a big mistake,’ Chirag told the paper.

See the report and photos at: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/indian_citizen_stopped_by_madi.html#incart_m-rpt-2