Cassius Methyl

March 27, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) On February 6th, Former Madison police officer Eric Sloan Parker slammed an Indian grandfather face first to the pavement, showing the world what happens if you visit America without understanding the violent nature of a police state. 57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel was hospitalized and partially paralyzed from the attack. A video of the initial incident is embedded below:

The cop, who was fired shortly after the incident, is actually receiving federal charges after being indicted by a grand jury on Thursday. Eric Parker will be charged with using unreasonable force, which is a felony.

Authorities also apologized to the government of India. According to an article from Yahoo News, “Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley previously apologized to the Indian government for the treatment of Patel, calling it a case of excessive force.”

Defense Attorney for the officer, Robert Tuten, had the audacity to say “We are shocked, disappointed and overwhelmed by all the ways Eric Parker is coming under attack […] However, we are looking forward to seeing the indictment and having our day in court.”

What about the victim Mr. Tuten? Do we live in a world where the officer who instigated this violent act is the one under attack? Not the other way around? One man is irreversibly paralyzed, but let’s just disregard that for the Stockholm Syndrome-like unconditional love for police that is being perpetuated here.

However, this news is a step closer to a potential victory that must be celebrated, must be widely acknowledged to raise morale for the police accountability movement.

Most of the police who murder unarmed people get away with it, and frankly the lack of results from our continued activism efforts to hold cops accountable made public interest in the crimes of police decline in an incredibly dramatic way.

Endurance is the word. As concerned citizens trying to dis-empower corruption, violent police, and the police state as a whole, we must endure and keep at it. We must also question our methods, refine them and get creative.

Never stop. Please share this with as many people as possible, and let’s recognize a victory when we see one. Let’s push for this to really be a victory by doing everything we can to make sure justice is served to Eric Parker.

This article (Cop Federally Charged For Paralyzing Indian Grandfather Visiting America) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune in to the Anti-Media radio show Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Gage Skidmore. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.