Indian man thrashed by Alabama cops

Alabama: An elderly Indian man was beaten up by Alabama police while walking near his son’s home, leaving the older man temporarily paralysed and hospitalised with fused vertebrae.

Sureshbhai Patel, 57, was left temporarily paralysed from the incident which occurred only two weeks after he arrived in the US.

“He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time and the police attacked him,” said his son, Chirag Patel.

The family of the 57-year-old Indian man will file a lawsuit with many rights organisations terming the incident as “police brutality” and “racial profiling”.

Several Indian-American organisations and rights bodies not only condemned the brutality against Patel but also demanded action against the police official.

Madison Police on Monday issued a statement saying the department had suspended the officer and were investigating the use of force in this case.

Chirag, an engineer for one of the government contractors in Huntsville, said he invited his father from Pij to his new home in Madison to take care of his son.

Ayaan, 17-month-old, was born prematurely and started showing signs of developmental. So, Chirag made the decision to fly in his father to help out his family and take care of the baby so he could pursue his master’s degree.

Police statement said they had received a call early on Friday about a man looking in garages among the brick homes, just south of the city’s new high school.

“The caller, who lives in the neighbourhood did not recognise the subject and thought him to be suspicious,” read the statement.

Hank Sherrod, an attorney for the Patel family, said the grandfather was doing nothing illegal or suspicious when he was beaten in the northern Alabama town of Madison on Friday.

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

Problem arose when police arrived to question senior Patel. “Officers stopped Sureshbhai and tried talking to him but he spoke little English,” authorities said.

“Patel attempted to pull away from the pat-down and the officer injured him by forcing him to the ground,” the Madison Police said.

“Sureshbhai began saying the only English words he knows — “No English” — and also mentioned his son’s house number,” Chirag said adding “This is a good neighbourhood. I didn’t expect anything to happen.”

“This incident is part of a pattern of racial profiling, surveillance and violence that South Asians often face at the hands of law enforcement and part of the broader reality of police brutality in this country directed against Black and Brown communities,” Suman Raghunathan of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) alleged. 

Madison Police Chief Larry R Muncey said he is also concerned about the encounter and the department is asking for the community’s patience while it investigates.

Rajan Zed, President of the non-profit Universal Society of Hinduism based in Reno, Nevada, released a statement on Wednesday calling for emergency responders in Alabama to receive cultural competency training.

He said encounters like Patel’s could be avoided if Americans worked to better understand each other.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that Consulate Genral in Atlanta was in touch with police authorities and will provide all assistance. “Consulate General in Atlanta in touch with Madison police chief and providing all necessary consular assistance,” he said.