A former Alabama police officer was brought up on federal civil rights charges stemming from a February incident that left a visiting Indian grandfather partially paralyzed, the Justice Department announced Friday.
A federal grand jury handed down a one-count indictment against Eric Sloan Parker, 26, for allegedly injuring the man by slamming him to the ground. Parker subsequently turned himself in and was arrested on third-degree assault charges. He was later fired from the Madison, Ala. Police Department.
The indictment alleges Parker “deprived the man in Madison of his right under the U.S. Constitution to be secure from unreasonable seizures, which includes the right to be free from unreasonable force by someone acting under color of law,” according to a Justice Department press release.
Sureshbhai Patel was visiting his son in Madison when Parker allegedly stopped him while he was walking in his son’s neighborhood on Feb. 6. Graphic dash cam video of the stop showed an officer slamming Patel into the ground. Patel is identified only as “S.P” in the Justice Department press release.
The ex-police officer’s attorney told the Associated Press that his client would plead not guilty to the federal charges.
“We are shocked, disappointed and overwhelmed by all the ways Eric Parker is coming under attack,” attorney Robert Tuten told the AP by email. “However, we are looking forward to seeing the indictment and having our day in court.”
Patel has also filed a civil lawsuit against Parker, according to the AP.
“We are shocked, disappointed and overwhelmed by all the ways Eric Parker is coming under attack”
At least the “attack” against Eric Parker didn’t end up with Parker having to be hospitalized.
“We are shocked, disappointed and overwhelmed by all the ways Eric Parker is coming under attack,” attorney Robert Tuten told the AP by email.
Why? Did someone slam him to the ground and paralyze him too?
Call me a race-card-player, but the thought occurs to me that the melanin quotient in this man’s skin might have been a factor in his treatment by Officer Parker.
This is the rest of the story from NBC News:
"Parker was identified as the officer seen on dash-cam video throwing Sureshbhai Patel to the ground. Patel, who does not speak English, had been visiting his son’s home in Madison when he was stopped after someone called police to report a “skinny black guy” walking around the neighborhood. "
So…it’s not because Mr. Patel is Indian…he had the audacity to impersonate a skinny black guy. After all, the last thing you want skinny black guys doing is walking around the neighborhood. Jeez…they could be packing skittles and tea.
The weird thing about this is that it happened in a suburb of Huntsville, AL. Huntsville is different than your average southern town due to the NASA presence. There are lots of Indian, Pakastani, etc… residents in the area. This cop had to be a first rate idiot.