India Tribune Newsdesk
Atlanta, GA: What began as an ordinary shopping at Walmart turned into a months-long ordeal for Mahendra Patel, a 57-year-old Indian-American man who now says his life was upended by a false accusation and a flawed criminal investigation. Patel has filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages after spending more than six weeks in jail over an alleged kidnapping attempt that was later dismissed.
In March 2025, Patel was shopping at a Walmart in Acworth when he encountered Caroline Miller and her two young children. Patel says he asked Miller for directions to Tylenol and noticed her two-year-old son appearing unsteady. He briefly reached out to prevent the child from falling, then continued shopping. Minutes later, Miller reported to a Walmart employee that Patel had tried to kidnap her son, later telling police there had been a “tug of war.”
Patel was arrested at gunpoint days later and held without bond in the Cobb County Jail for 46 days. From the outset, he denied the allegations, insisting surveillance footage would prove his innocence. That video, according to court filings, showed no attempt to remove the child or use force. Instead, it depicted Patel calmly interacting with Miller, even showing her the Tylenol, with Miller appearing to give him a thumbs-up—details that directly contradicted her claims.
Despite this footage, Patel’s lawsuit alleges that police and prosecutors ignored or withheld exculpatory evidence and pursued charges without probable cause. The case was eventually dismissed in August 2025 after prosecutors said both sides had reached a resolution.
Patel says the experience cost him wages, damaged his reputation, and caused severe emotional distress for him and his family. Calling the episode a “nightmare,” he argues that without the store’s CCTV footage, he might still be behind bars. His lawsuit names Miller, local police, investigators, and prosecutors, seeking compensation and accountability for what he describes as a grave abuse of power that turned a simple trip for medicine into the most painful chapter of his life.
