The federal jury hearing evidence about former Madison, Alabama police officer Eric Parker's (alleged) violations of Sureshbhai Patel's civil rights is currently deadlocked. The jury continues to deliberate, however. But it may not be long before we have a hung jury.
Twice since deliberations began two days ago, the jury has told U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala that they can't reach a verdict. Because the judge told the jury she didn't want to know the jury's preliminary votes, no one can be sure if it's close to conviction or acquittal.
The video of Parker body-slamming Patel to the ground has made the rounds. You can view it here.
Parker's defense basically says that he was trained to use takedowns of this nature with uncooperative suspects. Several witnesses stated, after viewing the video, which came from Parker's dashcam, that the training he received was applied appropriately in this case.
Other officers testified that they would not have used such force in this situation.
Patel is partially paralyzed as a result of the officer's misconduct. I say misconduct because the Madison Police Department took very little time in firing Parker.
Parker overreacted to a 'suspicious person' call in the middle of the day in suburban Madison. I grew up near Madison in Huntsville. In fact, as a teenager, I and some of my friends were stopped by the Madison police in the '60s and arrested for having beer in the car. Madison was a sleepy town at the time, but its police department was well known as a fair, professional, and experienced department. We were released to our parents with no record.
This area of Madison, a suburban setting, is typical of many in the South. Madison residents more often than not work at places like NASA, Redstone Arsenal, or any of the high tech companies that support these agencies. The fact that you have people living and working there who are from different countries is not unusual. And yet...
Some prick called the police in the middle of the day and said a suspicious character is walking around the neighborhood. When asked what he looked like, he said, "A skinny black guy."
So when Parker tries to stop Patel, instead of asking where he lives, he grabs him, tries to pat him down for whatever stupid reason, and then when he sees an opening, slams Patel face first to the ground.
If the jury is hung in this case, it's not clear if the feds will retry it or let the state bring pending assault charges against Parker. I believe the feds would retry it because, well, they've got the cash to do it. If they don't retry the case, look for the state to drop its charges. And the only thing you'd have for justice after that would be that Parker lost his job and a possible civil suit.
We'll see.
Update 1: It's now a mistrial as reported by al.com.
Update 2: Because Parker has appealed his dismissal from the Madison PD, it's now being reported that he's on 'administrative leave.'