US judge throws out case against police officer's assault on Indian senior citizen

The case against a police officer in Alabama accused of using excessive force on an elderly Indian man was thrown out by a US judge on Thursday . This comes after the case was declared a mistrial twice, NDTV reported.

The case of 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel,who has been partially paralysed after a police officer, Eric Parker, assaulted him in February last year, was declared a mistrial once in September and again in November after a jury failed to convict the police officer on the civil rights charges leveled against him.

The video of Parker's assault on Patel had earlier gone viral, where the latter is seen communicating to the officer that he could not speak English following which Parker pins him to the ground.

The policeman had stopped him after a neighbour reported a "suspicious Black man."

A report in The Daily Mail adds:

Parker had testified that Patel's actions and appearance were "in sequence" with those of a burglar. He told jurors Patel tried walking away and wouldn't answer questions when officers approached him. Parker has said he was suspicious when Patel reached for his pockets and when he pulled one of his hands free during a pat-down.

Patel was unarmed and suffered a spinal injury from the incident.