We ran a story on the Indian who was hospitalised due unprovoked police brutality in Madison county, Alabama. Here is the video of the entire episode.
At around 2m10s, we can see the police slamming Sureshbhai to the pavement.
The story itself was shocking. The video just makes it worse.
Clearly, the Madison police has some explaining to do.
This is a story from Madison County in the state of Alabama, USA. A story of unnecessary aggression by the police on a helpless man.
Sureshbhai Patel, a 57-year-old Indian citizen was visiting his son, Chirag Patel, who works with a govt contractor in Huntsville as an engineer.
And when one day this simple Gujarati gentleman went walking around the neighbourhood, he ended up in the hospital with half of his body paralysed and his vertebrae fused.
Due to the unwarranted actions of the Madison police.
As reported in al.com , the police had apparently received a call from the neighbourhood about a “suspicious” individual. When the police was sent to verify, they found Sureshbhai, who barely knows a few words in English.
So when stopped by the police, all he could say was his name and his son’s address.
But then the unthinkable happened. The officer swung the old man to the ground, smashing his face to the pavement and injuring his spine.
On a simple sunny day, in a growing suburb of Madison.
The Madison police has issued a statement saying that the officer had attempted to pat down Sureshbhai, but when he pulled away, the officer forced him to the ground.
The statement also refers to a “communication barrier” which seems to have aggravated the situation.
But now as Sureshbhai Patel lies in the hospital, we are forced to wonder if his only crime was to be brown-skinned? Was not his frailty apparent nor his age?
Was not the Ferguson incident lesson enough to enforce some measure of control to the brutal practices being employed by the cops in America?
Larger questions can be raised about police brutality around the world.
And the undercurrents of racism that still hold sway over the majority of the peoples of the world.
The police of the world are guardians of our community’s laws and are charged with maintaining order within our societies.