Elderly Indian man temporarily paralyzed after being body slammed by Alabama police for walking on the sidewalk

© Sarah Cole/Paul Huggins

An elderly man was recently visiting Alabama from India when he found himself beaten by police who left him paralyzed.

Madison, Alabama police brutalized the 57-year-old Indian citizen who had committed no crime, he was only going for a walk on the sidewalk outside of his son's home. Now, one officer is being charged for leaving Sureshbhai Patel temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae, as a result of the severe beating he received from the police.

"He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time," Chirag Patel, the son of Sureshbhai said. "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."

Chirag Patel is an engineer who had just flown his father to America from the small Indian town of Pij. Sureshbhai Patel was trying to help his wife care for Chirag's 17-month-old son, so that Chirag could finish graduate courses for his masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama. "This is a good neighborhood. I didn't expect anything to happen," Chirag said.

Madison police blamed the elderly man in a statement Monday, saying that they received a call that a man was "looking in garages." "The caller, who lives in the neighborhood did not recognize the subject and thought him to be suspicious," the police statement on the incident stated.

Hank Sherrod, the attorney for the Patel family, said "this is broad daylight, walking down the street. There is nothing suspicious about Mr. Patel other than he has brown skin." Sureshbhai Patel speaks no English. The Madison police acknowledge a "communication barrier." Sherrod explains, however, that Sureshbhai told the police officers "no English" and told them his son's address. But that didn't stop the officers from beating the man to the point of paralysis.

"The subject began putting his hands in his pockets," the police statement says. "Officers attempted to pat the subject down and he attempted to pull away. The subject was forced to the ground, which resulted in injury." Sherrod said one officer slammed his client face first into the ground, with his arms pulled behind him.

"This is just one of those things that doesn't need to happen," Sherrod explained."That officer doesn't need to be on the streets." "He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time," Chirag Patel, the son of Sureshbhai said. "They put him to the ground." Well now he is off the streets. Eric Parker, the officer responsible for the beating Patel took, was just arrested and is being fired after Indian officials demanded action from the United States.

Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry, said that their government takes the incident "very seriously." They are in contact with the U.S. mission in New Dehli, Akbaruddin said. They also are in contact with officials in Washington and Alabama, Akbaruddin added. He was responding to reporters' questions in New Dehli.

"What we will communicate is that we are extremely disturbed," he said. "This is a matter of concern for us, and India and the U.S. as open pluralist societies need to address these issues and find ways in a mature manner so that these are aberrations and are not the norm."

Patel's attorney said that his client suffered partial paralysis but hopes for a full recovery.