US police officer who brutally assaulted Indian in Alabama arrested,will be fired;FBI to probe mater

[The Huskar]

WASHINGTON: One of the two police officers who allegedly assaulted the 57-year-old Indian man in Alabama has been arrested and FBI will be conducting a probe into the matter to find out if there were any federal violations in the incident.

Larry Muncey, the Madison City Chief of Police while apologizing to the victim Sureshbhai Patel, who was wrongfully assaulted by two police officers, without any provocation just because he did not know English and was unable to answer to their questions, informed that Federal Bureau of Investigation will also be conducting a probe into the matter.

"I sincerely apologize to Mr Patel, Mr Patel's family and our community. We strive to exceed expectations," Muncey told reporters at a news conference.

"Additionally FBI would be conducting a parallel inquiry to ascertain if there were any federal violations," Muncey said after he released audio and videos related to the incident.

"As a result of the investigations, I found that Mr Parkers's actions did not meet the high standard and expectations of the Madison City Police Department," he said, adding, that he (Muncey) has proposed termination of officer Parker, who has now been arrested for third-degree assault.

The incident occurred on the morning of February 6 while walking down the sidewalk in the neighbourhood, Patel, a permanent US resident, "was violently assaulted by a police official without provocation, and left partially paralysed," according to the 11-page lawsuit filed.

A day before, Patel had arrived in the United States to assist his son and daughter-in-law in caring for their 17-month-old child, who was developmentally delayed after a premature birth.

In the video, Patel is seen walking quietly in a sidewalk. He is not seen peeping at any of the houses or garage as was the police told in an non-emergency call it received from a neighbour, after which a police car was rushed to the neighbourhood.

 

[PlanetWarrior]

Excessive force by a police officer does not constitute a Federal violation Chief Muncey. Unless you intend standing for some election or another, please stop trying to get political mileage of the incident. It was simply a case of excessive force. Discipline the cop and let the law take its course. It is unfortunate that the victim had to undergo this trauma but then again, shyte happens everywhere

 

[kaku1]

Why so many threads on a same topic?

 

[Centrist]

Excessive force by a police officer does not constitute a Federal violation Chief Muncey. Unless you intend standing for some election or another, please stop trying to get political mileage of the incident. It was simply a case of excessive force. Discipline the cop and let the law take its course. It is unfortunate that the victim had to undergo this trauma but then again, shyte happens everywhere

FBI is looking into federal violations not chief Muncey. We should not go overboard on this but lets not trivialize the incident as well. I had been to US and have only good experiences to state (barring one or two bad ones). But this video did shock me - what if I had brought my parents for a quick visit and something like that happened. Anyways, hope he gets well soon and gets needed financial assistance for the medical expenditure.

 

[DesiGuy]

Excessive force by a police officer does not constitute a Federal violation Chief Muncey. Unless you intend standing for some election or another, please stop trying to get political mileage of the incident. It was simply a case of excessive force. Discipline the cop and let the law take its course. It is unfortunate that the victim had to undergo this trauma but then again, shyte happens everywhere

it does not unless the incident is related to civil rights of individual and that is the case here. The incident is being treated as a civil rights investigation and justice department is also involved.

Disciplining a cop is just NOT enough. Most of these thugs are high school drop outs with ged and police department does their best to save their own. He is lucky they didn't shot him.

 

[enquencher]

Indian assualted fbi at work...this is the way pressure should work not like people killed in their own country by drones and government does not give a shit

 

[Guynextdoor2]

it does not unless the incident is related to civil rights of individual and that is the case here. The incident is being treated as a civil rights investigation and justice department is also involved.

Disciplining a cop is just NOT enough. Most of these thugs are high school drop outs with ged and police department does their best to save their own. He is lucky they didn't shot him.

I also think the incidents are noticeably more now than before. It should not be treated as a standalone but the procedures need to be looked at more fundamentally. If a clueless 57 year old vegetarian Patel can be a 'serious threat', that really shows that the threshold of 'excessive force' is really low now.

 

[El Weirdo]

Indian assualted fbi at work...this is the way pressure should work not like people killed in their own country by drones and government dies not give a shit

uncalled for that.

 

[enquencher]

Take my wor

uncalled for that.

I take my words back

 

[me_itsme]

Well the incident is unfortunate, speedy recovery to the grandaddy. But terminating the cop is a little excessive I feel. What if he has wife and kids? He should be disciplined and let of with a light punishment.

Even some of our cops are brutal too, they all should be trained on how not to use exessive force.

 

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

Well the incident is unfortunate, speedy recovery to the grandaddy. But terminating the cop is a little excessive I feel. What if he has wife and kids? He should be disciplined and let of with a light punishment.

Even some of our cops are brutal too, they all should be trained on how not to use exessive force.

Nonsense. Have you seen the video. It was clear police brutality. He should not only be terminated, but also thrown in jail. Plus the victim should sue the *** off both the police department and the cop individually.

 

[xyxmt]

nice, more than assaulting they were humiliating the poor guy.

 

[Aamna Ali]

Here is the video!

Its actually a mistake..

There was non-emergency call that led to the violent confrontation.

The caller early Friday morning reports an individual walking on the street near his home. "He was doing it yesterday and today...He's just on foot. He's just kind of walking around close to the garage."

The operator asks what the man looks like. "He's a skinny black guy, he's got a toboggan on, he's really skinny."

He adds: "I've lived here four years and I've never seen him before."

Sureshbhai Patel had only arrived in the United States about a week earlier to help care for his grandson. Patel took a walk each morning, according to his son, Chirag Patel, an engineer who recently bought a home in Madison.

The caller says: "I'm just kind of following from a distance now." He says he is about to go to work and is nervous to leave his wife with the man walking around outside.

 

[JanjaWeed]

Nonsense. Have you seen the video. It was clear police brutality. He should not only be terminated, but also thrown in jail. Plus the victim should sue the *** off both the police department and the cop individually.

Enough lawyers will be lining up to take this case on... massive sum of compensation is on its way. Having said that.. damage is done to the old man.. & scars are permanent! American cops would have learnt their lesson after Ferguson incident.. apparently not so!

 

[Aamna Ali]

The Indian community of Madison and its surrounding areas is a tight-knit one. As Sureshbhai Patel lies partially paralyzed in the hospital, his fellows at the Hindu Cultural Center of North Alabama in Harvest held a special prayer service for his recovery Thursday evening.

The congregation felt solidarity with Patel. Most of them, if not all, know him or his family personally. They were also sympathetic to the culture clash they believe motivated Madison Police Officer Eric Parker's alleged attack on Patel.

"We are a peaceful, loving people. But if we don't let people know, they're going to hurt us," a temple leader said to the crowd.

Everyone was there to pray for Patel. They were earnestly heartbroken that he was so harshly injured. Several felt it happened for the simple reason that his background and language were different from the police officer that approached him while he was out for a walk last week.

Even though it had only been a few hours since the city of Madison held a press conference on the matter, everyone there apparently had seen or heard about the released dashboard camera video that showed police force Patel to the ground after establishing he didn't speak English. Many felt the language barrier became a bigger problem than it should have been.

Denny Patel, who knows Patel but is not related, said Madison is becoming increasingly mixed with different cultures and ethnicities. He feels police need to know how to interact with them, particularly with citizens who don't speak English.

Training police to work with non-English speakers was a thought shared by all, including temple president Puspa Sabu. She said in Patel's case, the officers had other options when they couldn't speak to him, such as taking him to the police station or calling his family.

"You don't have to use force, because the guy doesn't speak English. He doesn't know what the police officer is asking," she said.

Everyone felt that diversity sensitivity is essential but they do not blame the Madison Police Department as a whole for Patel's encounter with Parker, who has been fired and charged with third-degree assault.

Patel's story has reached Indian communities around the world, and their hopes for his well-being have been loud and clear. Indian Consul Anil Kumar was in Madison for Thursday's press conference to hear the city's apology to Patel and consequences for the officer.

The arrest announcement was not particularly something to rejoice in the Hindu temple. Something that kept appearing throughout the service and the interviews was the congregation's emphasis on keeping the culture a peaceful one.

"Hindus don't believe tit for tat or eye for eye, we don't believe that," said a temple leader who wished to go unnamed.

"Our religion is very peaceful. We like to treat people gently, nicely. Even if somebody's from outside we think that our guest is our god," said Sabu.

Patel sad this pacifistic mentality is honored but can further escalate culture clashes with Americans who may be more used to weapons or aggression.

Link : North Alabama Hindu center offers prayers to severely injured grandfather, thoughts on Madison police officer's arrest | AL.com