A man who spent more than six weeks behind bars after he was accused of trying to snatch a 2-year-old boy from his mother inside an Acworth Walmart is suing his accuser, the lead detective and the district attorney who pursued the case against him.
Mahendra Patel, 57, sent notice last fall that he planned to sue over the ordeal, which ended with all of his charges getting dropped last year.
Monday’s federal complaint names Caroline Miller, the young mother who accused Patel of trying to grab her son, along with Cobb County District Attorney Sonya Allen; the city of Acworth; the detective who charged him; and the DA’s investigator who presented the case to a Cobb grand jury.
Patel, a retired engineer and father of two, said he was pulled over and arrested at gunpoint in March, days after Miller told police he tried to abduct her child in the middle of the busy store.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
But surveillance footage released by Patel’s former attorney appeared to contradict the woman’s version of events, and the case quickly made international headlines.
Patel said he had a tough time in jail, especially given the charges he faced. But he said other inmates began offering their support weeks into his stint, especially after the release of the store’s surveillance video helped “change the narrative” surrounding his case.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
“It saved my life,” he said of the video footage that ultimately cleared him.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Patel called the experience “a nightmare.” He also reiterated that he was simply trying to help Miller, who was riding around the Walmart on a motorized scooter with two children on her lap.
“I went to get Tylenol and got the biggest headache of my life,” Patel said.
His attorney, Solomon Radner, said it was clear from the beginning that Patel committed no crime. Why he was kept in jail for weeks without bond despite video evidence that cleared him is still unclear, he said.
“There was a concerted effort here to make sure Mr. Patel went down for a crime he did not commit,” Radner said. “What happened to him was wrong, what happened to him was un-American, and there must be accountability.”
Former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan said he’s not surprised Patel is suing, given the way his case was handled.
Morgan said the police officer and the city are fair game — especially if Patel’s attorneys can show certain exculpatory evidence was withheld. Successfully suing the DA may be a different matter since prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits, he said.
In April, Morgan showed the Walmart surveillance footage to his criminal law students at Western Carolina University and told them their job was to “find the crime.”
They couldn’t see where Patel had done anything wrong or why he was even arrested.
“The question would be whether a reasonable officer under the same circumstances would have done the same thing,” Morgan said. “In the evidence that I saw and my class saw, a reasonable officer would not have sought a warrant for probable cause.”
Patel’s complaint alleges he was maliciously prosecuted and deprived of due process. As a result of the charges and the time spent behind bars, Patel contends he suffered lost wages, emotional distress and harm to his reputation.
Following his arrest, Patel’s face was “plastered all over the news as a kidnapper,” Radner said.
“Mr. Patel’s good name came under attack for absolutely no reason,” he said.
Surveillance video reviewed by police the night of the incident showed no attempt to snatch the 2-year-old from Miller’s arms, Patel’s lawyers said. Still, prosecutors and the police moved forward with felony charges against him.
The case was quickly indicted so quickly that a probable cause hearing was never held. As a result, Patel languished in jail for more than six weeks without bond, his lawyers said.
Radner alleged that Acworth police and DA’s office investigator Temperance Stoddard had access to the surveillance footage from the beginning but said the tapes were never shown to the grand jury.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
“If the video would have shown Mr. Patel actually trying to commit a crime, I’ll bet you anything she would have gotten that video to work,” he said. “But I think she knew exactly what it was going to show, and she wanted to get that indictment.”
Patel’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out to Acworth police and the district attorney’s office for comment. Miller could not immediately be reached.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
