Hindu temple vandalised in U.S.

Keywords: America hate crimes, U.S hate crimes, Hindu temple attack, Washington temple attack, U.S. minority rights, U.S. religious freedom

When Chirag Patel walked into his father's hospital room, he saw a different man than the one he had left just two hours before.

Sureshbhai Patel, 57, lay in shock. Dried blood caked his nose. His neck was swollen and blotched with bruises. Chirag lifted Sureshbhai's arm, and let go. It flopped down to the bed.

"It was devastating," Chirag said on Sunday, nine days after a Madison, Alabama, police officer threw Sureshbhai to the ground, sparking a civil rights lawsuit, a federal investigation and international outrage aimed at law enforcement in this small southern town.

Sureshbhai had traveled from his farm in India to help care for his grandson, who had been born prematurely. Less than two weeks later, a police officer left him partially paralyzed, the result of significant trauma to the cervical spine.

"This police officer probably wouldn't have perceived Mr Patel as vulnerable if he wasn't a person of color," said Hank Sherrod, the Patel family's lawyer. "But that doesn't mean [the incident was] motivated by any particular racial hatred."

Police power and accountability are at the center of this case, Sherrod said.

Sureshbhai has shown progress in physical therapy, but doctors have warned his son that it is too soon to gauge whether a full recovery is possible. Sureshbhai still doesn't have enough grip strength to hold a spoon.

He's saying, No English''

His ordeal began when a suspicious neighbor called police, around 8am on 6 February. The man told a dispatcher a stranger was wandering around in nearby driveways, walking close to garages. The caller had never seen the man, who turned out to be Sureshbhai.

"I'd like somebody to talk to him," the neighbor told the dispatcher.

Dash cam video from a police cruiser shows Sureshbhai walking down the sidewalk, passing manicured lawns and monotone brick houses. He is stopped by two officers, Eric Parker and Andrew Slaughter, a trainee. The officers don't know it, but they are within sight of the Patels' home, about 10 houses down.

One officer asks Sureshbhai where he is headed. When he responds, the officer says he can't understand him. He asks Sureshbhai for his ID, where he lives and what his name is.

The other officer interjects: "He's saying No English'."

Audio of Sureshbhai isn't clear over the country radio station playing in the police car, but Sureshbhai later told his son he repeated "No English, India" and the address of his home. The first officer continues to question Sureshbhai while the second, Parker, appears to begin to pat Patel down.

"Do not jerk away from me again," the officer says. "If you do I'm going to put you on this ground."

Parker then slams Sureshbhai into the ground face first, so forcefully that his legs fly backwards and nearly over his head.

Madison police chief Larry Muncey fired Parker last week. Parker now faces an assault charge, according to the Huntsville Times.

Initially, the department issued a statement that blamed Patel for "putting his hands in his pockets" before he "attempted to pull away" from the officers. Sherrod says the department's dash cam footage contradicts those claims.

Sherrod filed a civil lawsuit against the department, for excessive use of force. He hoped the legal action would draw media attention and pressure the police administration to punish Parker.

In a press release after firing Parker, Muncey apologized to the Patels, stating: "Eric Parker's actions did not meet the high standards and expectations of the Madison city police department."

Sherrod said: "The initial press release shows that really they have the highest standards when they know that people are watching. And I think that's true of most police departments."

India's external affairs ministry has condemned the incident, and the FBI is investigating if criminal civil rights charges would be justified.

"You do not need to fear if you call the police that they're going to do anything like Eric Parker did to Mr Patel," Sherrod said.

The police chief could not be reached for comment this weekend.

They didn't see this coming from Madison'

On Sunday, Chirag's doorbell rang. Janet Lynn and her two daughters held a heart-adorned box, heavy with cookies and fruit.

The Lynn family saw the dash cam video on a local newscast and were terrified to recognize their street. Lynn said she had never previously heard of problems with local police.

"We as a community want to make sure that they know that's not who they're living next door to," she said.

The engineering industry attracts a diverse population to this part of Alabama, and word about the incident spread quickly in the tight-knit Indian community, where families worship in each other's homes and share childcare and house keys. On Thursday, a prayer service was held for Sureshbhai at the Hindu Cultural Centre of North Alabama. The temple congregation is shocked.

"They didn't see this coming from Madison," said Praney Vootukuri, a University of Alabama at Birmingham student who was visiting home.
The community supports Parker's firing, but most see it as an isolated incident. They have not feared police in the past and are still at ease with local authorities. A few, nonetheless, are wary. The ignorance of even just one police officer indicates insufficient training, said Dr Sarat Praharaj, a 35-year resident of Madison and chief executive of an engineering firm in Huntsville.

He and some others wanted police officers to take classes on cultural sensitivity, in order to learn how to interact with people who don't speak English and may not understand American gestures.

Praharaj said that when his mother visited next, he would tell her to always walk with English speakers.

A family reunited

Chirag watched on Sunday morning as two hospital workers propped his father between them, his left leg dragging as he attempted a few steps. Bouquets of bright flowers fill the hospital room. So many had been sent that the old ones had barely wilted before they were replaced.

Members of the temple continue to call Chirag's house to check on the family. They bring food and visit the hospital. A GoFundMe page created to offset medical costs raised more than $160,000 in four days.

Chirag's mother, Shakuntala Patel, has begun the American residency process in order to join her husband. Chirag always planned for his parents to come to the US. In India, his family is poor. Living with Chirag would provide them with better healthcare and more creature comforts. It would bring his hard work full circle. And the family would be united once again.

Chirag moved to the US in 2006, when his father encouraged him to pursue a better education. He learned English and studied electrical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). He got a good job in the defense industry, became an American citizen and married his wife, Sonal.

But when his son Ayaan was born prematurely, the balancing act became too much. Chirag had recently begun a master's program at UAH on top of work, which left Sonal shouldering most of the childcare. Chirag's father offered to come to Alabama to help with the developmentally-delayed child. Chirag accepted.

It was Sureshbhai's first time seeing his grandson without feeding tubes. The two played together on Ayaan's colorful foam puzzle mat, the little boy smiling as he gripped his grandfather's fingers tightly to walk.

Now the room Chirag prepared for his father is empty. The mounted television he set up with Indian channels is off. The plaid shirt and sweater that Sureshbhai was wearing during the incident lay splayed on the bed, a bloodied green-checkered handkerchief above them.

In the hospital, Sureshbhai tells his son he is worried. His presence may now be a burden, not a resource.