Federal prosecutors plan to retry the Alabama police officer who was charged with violating an Indian man’s civil rights after a jury deadlocked Friday and a mistrial was declared in the case.
Madison police officer Eric Parker was accused of using unreasonable force when he slammed Sureshbhai Patel, 58, to the ground in February.
Professor Stephen Rushin recently told the Associated Press he has used video of the encounter in lessons on police misconduct and said prosecutors’ burden of proving an officer’s willfulness in criminal cases makes it very difficult to secure convictions.
Professor Richard Delgado also weighed in.
“The best course of action in both kinds of case, civil and criminal, is to use the department’s rules of conduct, manual, or training guidelines as the standard of care and go on to show that the officer violated his department’s own rules,” Delgado said in an email.
For more, read “Prosecutors Planning Retrial Of Officer In Civil Rights Case.”
