Mahendra Patel, the 56-year-old Indian-American engineer, who was arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping, has spent 43 days behind bar. As his bail hearing is set for Tuesday, May 6, his lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant claimed that he was charged without any evidence and she has the surveillance video that shows what actually happened at the Georgia Walmart store in March.
Caroline Miller, A woman with a two-year-old son accused Patel of assaulting and attempting to kidnap the child at the Walmart store. A grand jury indicted Patel and sent him to Georgia’s Cobb County jail without bond.
His lawyer released the surveillance video and claimed that it was not a kidnapping or attempted kidnapping; Patel was just trying to make sure that the boy didn’t fall from the scooter.
Who is Mahendra Patel ? What happened at Georgia walmart on March 18
Patel encountered Miller on a motorized cart scooter with two children, one in her lap and one at her feet. The surveillance footage that has no audio showed that Patel was speaking with Miller with his back to the camera. Patel asked Miller whether she knew where to find Tylenol, a medicine.
In her complaint, Miller said when she showed Patel the direction where Tylenol was, Patel reached down and grabbed her baby. She claimed there was a tug of war with the baby.
Patel’s lawyer said he reached out to the child to make sure the child didn’t fall. “There’s no tug-of-war. It’s … a split second,” Merchant said. “There’s definitely no battery, no assault, nothing like that at all.”
CNN reported that in the surveillance footage, it can be seen that Patel later told Miller that he found the medicine and Miller acknowledged. Patel then left the store after paying for the medicine, but Miller lodged a complaint and Patel was arrested three days later.
Patel’s lawyer told CNN that he has been in prison since then as the district attorney did not agree to a bond — while his family, including his two daughters and his mother, has been miserable without him.
