Nash Patel and his wife had an incident with Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday night when he reported an alleged burglary at his brother-in-law’s Marcus Point home. He and his brother appeared before the the Escambia County commissioners last night during the Board of County Commissioners open forum to gain public attention to what has been reported as the insensitivity of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
In a press release issued earlier in the day by Art Rocker, it was alleged:
The Sherriff’s Department was called sometime around 5pm but did not arrive until almost an hour later. When the deputies finally arrived they approached the residence with anger and malice, upset because in the hour waiting time, the Patel’s called 911 over 3 times to ensure an officer was on the way. Escambia County Sherriff’s officer proceeded to arrest Nash Patel for calling 911 three (3) times. When Nash’s wife, Kandace Patel, objected and asked why her husband was being handcuffed and thrown in a police car in front of their seven (7) year old son and the additional family members, the arresting officer arrested Kandace Patel.
Nash and Kandace Patel were handcuffed and put in separate police cars while several other Policemen arrived. Art Rocker, Chairman of the State of Florida Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Chairman of Operation People for Peace, witnessed the entire incident.
‘They never would have done this to White Businessmen in Escambia County. This incident is racially motivated and the victims were targeted because of their race. Once again, Due to lack of training of officers and others in Law enforcement agencies in this County, the men tasked with protecting and serving have acted in Police Brutality.’-Art Rocker
The Independent News made a public request of the incident report, which tells a different tale:
When the deputies arrived at the home, they saw Nash Patel standing on the driveway. Patel began yelling at the officers wanting to know why he was not a high priority. A deputy tried to explain to him that their zone had been busy with higher priority calls and they were unable to respond quickly.
Patel kept interrupting the deputy. When the deputy tried to explain further that calling 9-1-1 repeatedly when there is no emergency was a crime, Patel “became very hostile with his gestures and language.” Others on the scene became angry towards the officers, too. The deputies felt threatened and tried to pull Patel away from the crowd to de-escalate the situation.
From report: “Deputy Rose then placed handcuff on (Patel) and was transporting him to his vehicle when 10-15 people, that included family and neighbors, began coming toward us in an aggressive manner trying to pull Deputy Rose’s arms off of (Patel). Deputy Rose and I gave multiple verbal commands for them to stand back and give us room, at which they kept walking towards us yelling at us in an aggressive manner.”
Nash Patel’s wife Kandace started yelling at the deputies and refused to stand back when instructed by deputies.
“I placed my right arm with her right shoulder and ordered her to stop, at which time she struck my right arm with her right arm attempting to walk past me. I then tried to stop her again with verbal commands and placing my arm in the same place and she struck me again. At that point, I attempted to detain (Kandace Patel), at which time she snatched her arms away from me in a aggressive manner. (Kandace Patel) then raised her fists at me as if she were (sic) going to strike me. I drew my taser and ordered her to stand down and several people grabbed (Kandace Patel) and held her back, telling her to calm down.”
The deputies’ supervisor arrived. Both Patels were placed in a car “until the situation de-escalated.”
Supervisor ordered deputies to let (Kandace Patel) go and to not charge her with battery. Nash Patel was also released, not charges were filed.
