the police call that lead to cop paralyzing Indian national - "He's a skinny black guy"

[Liberal_in_LA]

Alabama cop arrested after allegedly paralyzing 57-year-old Indian citizen

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The FBI is investigating the incident, the Associated Press reported.

The officers were responding to a male caller who reported Sureshbhai Patel — who had only arrived in the United States a week earlier to take care of his grandson so Chirag Patel could attend graduate school — as a suspicious individual.

"He was doing it yesterday and today...He's just on foot. He's just kind of walking around close to the garage," the caller said, according to AL.com.

When asked what the 57-year-old looked like, "He's a skinny black guy, he's got a toboggan on, he's really skinny," adding, "I've lived here four years and I've never seen him before."

http://www.sfgate.com/news/local/article/Alabama-cop-arrested-after-allegedly-paralyzing-6079364.php

the video is chilling. the guy was thrown to the ground for no other reason that he looked like a black man

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"What's going on sir?"
trulock.JPGMadison Mayor Troy Trulock shakes hands with Indian Consul Anil Kumar before the press conference Thursday. Kumar watched, but did not comment. Jonathan Grass

"You what?"

"India."

"Where you heading?"

"Where?"

"I can't understand you, sir."

"Where's your address?"

"Do you have any ID?"

"India?"

"Do you live here."

"Sir, sir, come here."

"Do not jerk away from me again, or I will put you on the ground. Do you understand?"

Eventually, the two officers turn Patel around and have his hands behind his back. At one point, as another patrol car pulls up, Parker yanks his arm and slams him into the ground. Patel can not put out his hands to break his fall. He would require cervical fusion and remains in Huntsville Hospital with limited mobility in his limbs. His son as of Tuesday said his father could not move one leg at all.

The video continues, with officers trying to get the man to stand. One officer begins picking dirt and debris off of him. The concern slowly becomes evident in their voices.

"He don't speak a lick of English."

"I tried to pat him down but he tried to walk away from me."

"I don't know what his problem is but he won't listen."

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/madison_police_fire_and_arrest.html

[Historic NY]

1. The cop was fired....

<Chief Larry Muncey told a small press conference in Madison that he also recommended that Parker be fired for his use of force against a man who committed no crime, did not speak English and could not understand the commands.

Muncey said "I found that Officer Eric Parker's actions did not meet the high standards and expectations of the Madison City Police Department.">



http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/madison_police_fire_and_arrest.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. What an ignorant asshole.

"He's got a toboggan on" ??

This is a toboggan.

[rgbecker]

9. It's Alabama. No Snow, no Toboggans.

Give the fucking idiot cop a break!

[Igel]

11. In most of the country, it seems, toboggan is just the sled.

Nothing more. (I'm from Md originally, via Oregon, southern California, west New York, and now Houston ... never heard "toboggan" mean anything other than the sled. Until 10 minutes ago.)

"toboggan (n.) Look up toboggan at Dictionary.com
"long, flat-bottomed sled," 1829, from Canadian French tabagane, from an Algonquian language, such as Maleseet /thapaken/. The verb is recorded from 1846. As American English colloquial for a type of long woolen cap, it is recorded from 1929 (earlier toboggan cap, 1928), presumably because one wore such a cap while tobogganing"
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=toboggan

I call them tuques, mostly because my kid used to watch Jacob Two-two and I didn't have a word for a knitted cap ... when I was already 50.

Apparently the meaning of "knitted cap" as a "toboggan" is primarily or originally Appalachian, recorded in Tennessee and Kentucky. Note that Madison, AL, isn't far from the TN border.

Linguistic diversity is fun. Making fun of it isn't.

[Taitertots]

3. We need a dialogue about what constitutes suspicious

I think "suspicious" needs to be: acting in a manner that makes a reasonable person believe that a articulable crime is imminent.

The caller said a black man was standing by a driveway. The dispatch shouldn't even send officers for LWB (living while black) calls. If sent to the scene, there was no reason to leave the car. Drive up, see someone standing around doing nothing wrong, and drive away.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. I'm also beginning to think misdemeanor charges against habitual 911 callers...

...the "suspicious dark-skinned guy" callers because you know that can't be the first time that jackass has called the cops on something completely normal.

[Old Codger]

6. In some cases

Maybe a felony, the kid that was shot and killed in walmart with the bb gun was killed because a 911 caller told them that he had a gun and was waving it around and pointing it at people when the video shows that no such thing was happening . Cops shot him without taking time to ascertain what was really happening...

Both the caller and the cops that shot him should be charged with negligent homocide

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. This is tragic; but, the OP didn't go far enough in the excerpt ...

He don't speak a lick of English."

"I tried to pat him down but he tried to walk away from me."

"I don't know what his problem is but he won't listen."

"He was trying to walk away."

"Did you bite your lip?"

"He OK?"

I find the bolded section troubling. Why? Because the "quicker on the uptake" officer, could/would have responded, "No ... when he was trying to walk away, he hit me in the face. That's why I took him down. I was afraid for my life!"

[Control-Z]

7. This part gets me.

"He don't speak a lick of English."

snip

"I don't know what his problem is but he won't listen."

Really? Really?

It's because "He don't speak a lick of English.", you fucking idiot.

[Generic Other]

10. By the end of the video

it seems clear they realize they have made an error. You can see them solicitously begin to brush the grass off his jacket. They act like they are WWF wrestlers. Or NASCAR drivers. Or Wyatt Earp at the OK Corral. They should be the exact opposite. Offering assistance, talking to people on their beat, waving at folks. Seriously nothing wrong with expecting peace officers to be peaceful. We did not hire them to be roving armed gangs. They are supposed to be our mediators, our peace keepers, our trusted allies.

For people of color they are instead the shadow of death crossing their path.

[Major Nikon]

8. At least this didn't happen in NY or MO

Where the "high standards" are evidently far lower

[IronLionZion]

12. I've lived in my place for 4 years and there's lots of folks I haven't seen before

what sort of person thinks some nefarious hoodlum is going to be lurking about in a residential neighborhood on foot, in the morning, just waiting to do something bad to someone? I wouldn't want neighbors who are such cowards.

There's a reason we have sidewalks. People used to go for walks in this country.