Alabama assault

I was puzzled, indeed perturbed reading Devang Bhatt’s letter in last week’s AV. He somehow tries to blame victim and his family for unprovoked police attack on elderly Sureshbhai Patel. It is common knowledge that American police officers are racist, trigger happy when dealing with non-white citizens. There are numerous cases where white officers have shot dead black persons, even teenagers for being in the wrong place at the wrong time without facing the consequence, although it would be wrong to generalise.
Before police arrest someone, they have to ascertain whether the person is armed, threat to law and order. In Sureshbhai’s case he was simply taking early morning walk in an unfamiliar area.  Even fluency in English does not mean we could understand every dialect. Recently I visited friends in Leeds. There was knock and when I opened the door, I saw postman who was delivering registered letter. He was friendly who tried to chat but I could not understand a word, as he was speaking in local colloquial Yorkshire dialect and my friend had to intervene. Does this make me illiterate?
Although police officer may be under arrest, investigation, he will soon be freed, back on duty while the victim may be permanently disabled. Let’s call spade a spade and blame the perpetrator rather than find excuses or fault the victim.
Bhupendra M. Gandhi
By email