A man who spent six weeks in jail after he allegedly tried to snatch a toddler from a mother at a Georgia Walmart has been released on bond after new surveillance footage surfaced.
Mahendra Patel, 57, was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping, battery and assault following the March 18 incident in which 26-year-old Caroline Miller accused him of trying to kidnap her two-year-old son.
Miller told WSB-TV Atlanta she was on a motorized scooter with her two children at the superstore in Acworth when Patel approached her and asked for help finding Tylenol. That’s when he grabbed her son and they were “tug of warring” over the child, she said.
But Patel’s defense attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, argued at a bond hearing this week that surveillance footage her firm had subpoenaed from Walmart contradicts Miller’s account of the incident and instead proves her client’s innocence.
Merchant submitted an edited compilation of the footage that she said shows Patel trying to help the child and the mother, because she was on the scooter. Merchant noted that Miller is not physically disabled.
After leaning in to reach for the child, Patel then "immediately backs up" and puts his hands in his pockets when Miller leans back, the video shows.
“The video couldn't be clearer,” she told the judge. “Mr. Patel did not try to kidnap this child.”
Prosecutors argued that Patel had fled the store, but his attorney claimed that her client continued shopping and interacted with other Walmart employees, including one who referred to him as a "friendly older gentleman” before paying for the Tylenol and leaving the store.
Merchant also argued that Patel wasn't a flight risk and had strong ties to the community. She also said that over 250 people, including family members and neighbors, had come to the courthouse that day in support of his release.
After hearing the arguments and viewing the footage, Cobb County Superior Court Judge A. Gregory granted Poole release on a $10,000 bond.
“I’m going to grant this man a bond. He’s entitled to a bond,” the judge told Patel. “I’m not worried about that. I don’t believe he poses a risk to the community. The evidence from the video, and I won’t comment on what I think the video really shows, as far as guilt or innocence. It’s not my job today. But the facts do show me that he hung around, and I don’t find that he’s a flight risk based upon what I saw in the video.”
Patel, who spent his birthday in Cobb County Jail, was released later that day. Outside the jail, he told reporters: “I'm so happy to be out.”
“I can not even dream about someone alleging of me doing this,” he added. “It was a shocker.”
