In his letter last week, Devang Bhatt blamed Sureshbhai Patel's son and daughter-in-law for not teaching him basic English skills which resulted in the brutal attack by Alabama police officers. I have to disagree with Mr Bhatt.
Even those who are very fluent in English are most likely to be arrested and killed by American police officers. As per USA Today nearly twice a week in U.S a white police officers kills a black/coloured person. According to most recent accounts of justifiable homicide reports to the FBI during a 7 year period ending in 2012 18% of those killed were under 21.
The attack on Sureshbhai Patel was a crystal clear case of racial and prejudice minded attitude of police officers who reacted upon a call from a man about a black person walking suspiciously.
In spite of the massive training given to become police officers it is pity that police officers cannot differentiate between an ordinary simple man going for a morning walk and a person about to commit a crime.
On all police cars in Toronto a nice slogan is written - To serve and protect - and also on York Region (where I live) police cars - Deed speaks.
May be all American police officers should learn from this and try to put in to practice leaving aside racial attitude.
Suresh and Bhavna Patel
Markham, Canada
