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Alabama

Assault case dismissed against north Alabama police officer

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2015 file photo, former Madison, Ala. police officer Eric Sloan Parker walks into a federal courthouse in Huntsville, Ala. A judge has dismissed state charges against Parker who was accused of assaulting an Indian man during a suspicious person investigation. Limestone County District Judge Douglas Patterson dismissed the case against Parker on Thursday, May 12, 2016. Parker was recorded slamming Sureshbhai Patel to the ground in February 2015. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) (The Associated Press)

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    FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2015 file photo, Chirag Patel, left, helps his father, Sureshbhai Patel, out of the car as they arrive outside the federal courthouse before start of a trial against Madison, Ala., police Officer Eric Sloan Parker, in Huntsville, Ala. A judge has dismissed state charges against Parker who was accused of assaulting Sureshbhai Patel during a suspicious person investigation. Limestone County District Judge Douglas Patterson dismissed the case against Parker on Thursday, May 12, 2016. Parker was recorded slamming Sureshbhai Patel to the ground in February 2015. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) (The Associated Press)

ATHENS, Ala. – A judge has dismissed state charges against a north Alabama police officer accused of assaulting an Indian man during a suspicious person investigation.

Limestone County Judge Douglas Patterson dismissed the case against 27-year-old Eric Parker on Thursday.

Parker was recorded slamming 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel (suh-REHSH'-by pah-TEL') to the ground in February 2015. Patel was out for a walk when he was approached by police.

Parker has said Patel resisted him. Patel has said through an interpreter that he doesn't speak English and didn't understand Parker's orders.

Two federal civil rights trials against Parker ended in hung juries before he was acquitted.

Patterson's decision came after Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.