The level of complicity and sheer number of people involved in this petty false claim is staggering.
On March 18 2025 Mahendra Patel ventured off after dinner to a Walmart store in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta. As he walked the aisles, he spotted what appeared to be a handicapped woman riding a motorized cart and thought she could help him find some Tylenol. She pointed to the isle.
The woman, Caroline Miller, 26, sat on the cart with her 2-year-old son on her lap, and an older child was sitting on the cart’s footwell. As the two adults engaged in conversation, the scooter clipped a store display and Patel noticed the toddler looked like he was about to fall – off the scooter and his mother’s lap. Patel said he reached out to make sure the boy wouldn’t fall (not actually touching the child) being a good Samaritan.
Patel, a retired engineer and father of two, left the store within a few minutes after paying for the Tylenol. He didn’t give the encounter a second thought until three days later when he was stopped by police and handcuffed on the side of a Georgia highway. He had been charged with criminal attempt to commit kidnapping, simple assault and simple battery. “They (police officers) said ‘we have a warrant against you,’ and that’s it, they took me to jail,” Patel said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/23/us/m ... -claim-hdy
What Patel didn't know is Caroline Miller had gone to the police and concocted a completely fictitious story that he (Patel) tried to kidnap her 2-year-old child, she also claimed there was a struggle after which Patel ran from the store. Ironically, Walmart security had actually turned their security cameras (I say ironic because the security guard thought he looked suspicious because he was Indian) and followed Patel filming the entire incident in Walmart. the video not only showed Patel was completely innocent but that Caroline Miller risked injuring her children by having them ride "piggybank" on the mobility scooter and in one instance she ran over her son's foot. Not only did Ms Miller lie about Mr Patel but it turns out 26 yr old Miller is not even disabled, she hired the mobility scooter to give her kids a ride in the shops.
Despite the obvious false claims a number of individuals conspired with the (weird) accusations resulting in Mr Patel being incarcerated in jail for 46 days.
Let me list them all....
1. Ms Miller's husband made up further stories his wife was in a state of shock immediately after and shivering for hours suffering trauma (Walmart video of Ms Miller shows her smiling and even giving Mr Patel a thumbs up as he showed her the tylenol as he left the store)
2. Walmart security - never chose to corroborate Mr Patel's story despite watching him on suspicion of being a potential shoplifter
3. Accland Police - Believed Ms Miller's testimony at face value (never bothering to check the surveillance video even after the Patel family asked). Police claimed to review the video the night of the incident, then li to a judge claiming they viewed the video supports Ms Miller's claims.
4. District attorney and prosecutors - blocked an initial attempt by Patel's lawyers to show the judge the video knowing 100% it was a false claim thus forcing Mr Patel (a pensioner) to endure 46 days in jail being traumatised by other prisoners and lost 18 pounds. eventually even when the case was dropped
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/lo ... 70bd8f3bf5
the prosecutors (out of malevolence) took a further 3 months to drop all charges (knowing full well charges were trumped up) during which time Mr Patel and his family received death threats and he (Mr Patel) was unable to leave the house.
5. the judge who permitted this all to happen knowing it didn't follow due diligence.
6. And finally Ms Miller who concocted the false claims
4 days ago Mr Patel took legal action, alleging he was wrongfully arrested and detained for nearly seven weeks despite surveillance video that, according to the complaint, shows no crime occurred.
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/lo ... 7616b83249
"We want to hold the police and prosecutor accountable for completely destroying a man's life for absolutely no reason, for destroying a man's family for no reason, because if you think that this only affects the person charged with the crime, you're wrong. It affects the family perhaps just as much, sometimes even more," said said Solomon Radner, civil rights attorney at Radner Law Group.
Patel, joined by attorneys, spoke at a news conference on Monday.
"A simple trip in Walmart to get a Tylenol turned into a nightmare," said Patel. "I went to get a Tylenol, and I got the biggest headache of my life." He pointed to surveillance video, which his lawyer's said contradict the police report, being a life saving piece of evidence.
"That literally saved my life," said Patel. "Imagine if there was no Walmart video...it was her words against my words, and I would never see a daylight." According to the lawsuit, showed no indication of injury, use of force, or attempt to remove the child from the mother's custody, but despite this police and prosecutors still filed charges against Patel.
The lawsuit names an Acworth police detective, the City of Acworth, the Cobb County District Attorney's Office, the accuser and others as defendants. It also claims malicious prosecution, deprivation of liberty without due process, selective prosecution, and related constitutional violations.
"I absolutely want heads to roll. I want people to get fired. I want people to be held accountable. And if there was somebody who lied during this process or obstructed justice, maybe people should even be prosecuted for this," said Solomon Radner, civil rights attorney at Radner Law Group. "Maybe the Attorney General should step in and take a better look at this. What happened to Mr. Patel cannot happen in this country. It's unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable."
Patel's legal team sent the City of Acworth a notice of a potential lawsuit seeking $25 million.
13 Feb 2026, 11:00 pm
