According to AL.com:
Madison, Alabama police last week roughed up a 57-year-old Indian citizen who was walking on the sidewalk outside his son's home, leaving the older man temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae.
"He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time," said his son, Chirag Patel, this morning. "They put him to the ground."
No crime had been committed. Madison Police on Monday issued a statement saying the department had suspended the officer and were investigating the use of force in this case. The police statement wished the man a "speedy recovery."
Al Jazeera reports:
While he was out for a walk in his new neighborhood on Friday morning, Patel was stopped by two Madison police officers who said they were responding to a suspicious person call.
When the officers began to question him, Patel said “no English” and “India” as he tried to point to his son’s house and repeated the house number. Sherrod said Patel was walking on the sidewalk and not acting suspiciously.
Unable to communicate with Patel, the officers began patting him down before they claimed the man put his hands in his pockets and “slammed him to the ground,” Sherrod said.
Day after day, we continue to hear new stories of senseless assaults, abuses, and murders at the hands of violent police officers. While it's cordial that the police have wished Patel a speedy recovery, this is far from enough. The officer should be terminated and the family needs to be compensated for this trauma.
Below, his family speaks on the outrageous assault.
Thu Feb 12, 2015 at 5:00 PM PT (Walter Einenkel): Madison Police released video of the incident. Below the fold.