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Indian American doctor to sue police for pointing gun to his head on his property

New York, July 11 (IANS) An Indian American doctor known for his work among refugees and the poor is preparing to file a federal case over a policeman in Aurora in Colorado state pulling a gun on him in a threatening manner while he was entering his own property, according to media reports.

Civil rights lawyer David Lane, who is representing Paramjit Parmar, said he is preparing a federal lawsuit against the city claiming that an Aurora police officer used excessive force when he held a pistol in front of Parmar’s face, the Sentinel reported over the weekend.

Lane believes the incident was racially motivated, KUSA TV reported.

Although the incident took place in March, the video made by Paramjit Parmar on his cellphone and another from the bodycam worn by the officer have gone viral only now amid the national protests against police brutality against minorities after an African American man, George Floyd, was killed in Minneapolis by police.

“It wasn’t until the George Floyd protests that I felt any societal support on this,” Parmar wrote on the Medium website.

Parmar works with refugees and his clinic, Ardas, and provides services for them and for the poor.

He is also a campaigner for healthcare reforms in the US.

He wrote that the incident began when he was driving into a building he owns and saw a car parked there blocking his garage and honked.

When the policeman came from the vehicle with his gun drawn, Parmar wrote that he began recording on his cell phone when he heard a noise like the gun being cocked.

The policeman shouted an obscenity at him and had the gun at his head, he wrote. And he when he asked him to leave his property he demanded he prove that he owns the property, which also houses facilities and asylum seekers.

Lane told KUSA TV station that anytime police draws a gun it is considered “use of force.”

He was prepared to not file the suit if the Aurora Police Department would sit down with them and discuss the matter. In a lawsuit the jury can only award him money at the expense of taxpayers but “they can’t fire the cops, they can’t change policies,” he explained, according to the station.

While the national spotlight is on police conduct, there was a recent incident of alleged brutality against an Indian origin man.

On Monday a policeman in Schenectady was caught on video with his knee on the neck of Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, a manoeuvre that was outlawed in New York State last month following the killing of Floyd by a policeman who knelt on his neck.

Aurora police department is under scrutiny because of the killing of an unarmed African American man last August when a policeman put him in a chokehold. That incident like many others that had been ignored has been revived because of the wave of protests.

The matter was compounded by two policemen and a policewoman jokingly reenacting the chokehold at a shrine for the victim. The three were dismissed last week.

The policeman who drew the gun on Parmar was identified as Justin Henderson. He had shot and killed an African American man who had a machete last year but was cleared of any charges, according to the Denver Post.

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The video of a policeman appearing to kneel on the neck of an Indian-origin man during his arrest in New York has sparked outrage amid the nationwide protests against police brutality. The video of Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud’s arrest on Monday in the city of Schenectady showed the policeman with his knee on the man’s neck evoking the image of the killing of the unarmed African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 which triggered the protests across the country. However, Gaindarpersaud was taken to a hospital after his arrest and survived. He later participated in a protest outside the Schenectady police headquarters with about 100 people demanding action against the personnel in the incident, according to media reports. “I am enraged and heartbroken to see this violence from a Schenectady police officer,” tweeted Paul Tonko, the Democratic member of the House of Representatives. The policeman’s action could be a violation of a new New York state law outlawing the use of chokeholds or similar restraints on breathing that was passed in June in the aftermath of Floyd’s killing. Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been a complaint that Gaindarpersaud had slashed the tyres of a car and he resisted when police tried to arrest him. He said that the neckhold was used only to restrain him and that at no time the policeman tried to impair Gaindarpersaud’s breathing or blood circulation. Clifford said that Gaindarpersaud was able to walk to the police car after he was handcuffed. Full report on our website. Link in bio. . #blm #bipoc #chokehold #protests #race #police #blacklivesmatter #colorism #schenectady #ny

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