Walmart Surveillance Proves Jailed Man Didn’t Try to Kidnap Child: Lawyer

A Georgia man is sitting behind bars. right now, accused of trying to kidnap a. toddler at Walmart. But his attorney. claims that newly released surveillance. footage tells a very different story. We. have the video. We reviewed every frame. And we're going to speak with the man's. attorney, Ashley Merchant, who says this. was no crime, but a terrible. misunderstanding. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. What began as a routine trip to Walmart. for Tylenol has left a man jailed for.

nearly a month. Mahendra Patel is. accused of trying to kidnap a toddler. inside the store. The thing about this. is surveillance footage that we've. obtained is now challenging the official. narrative, raising questions about. whether or not there is an innocent man. behind bars. So, I want to take you back. to the day that this all apparently went. down. And there are two very different. versions of this story. So on March. 18th, Caroline Miller, mother of two, was shopping at a Walmart on Cobb. Parkway in Aworth, Georgia. This is.

outside of Atlanta. I want you to take a. look at this surveillance footage from. inside the store. So Miller is riding a. motorized cart with her four-year-old. daughter at her feet and her 2-year-old. son in her lap. Now, she later told. police that a stranger, and that's the. man you see in the gray shirt there, 56-year-old Mahendra Patel, approached. her under the guise of asking where to. find Tylenol before allegedly trying to. snatch her child. Now, according to a. press release from the Aworth Police. Department, it reads, quote, "Officers. spoke with the mother and witnesses and.

learned that the suspect approached her. and asked a question about Tylenol. The. suspect then grabbed the juvenile and. attempted to pull the child away from. the mother. The mother was able to break. away with the juvenile and the suspect. fled the area. The juvenile was not. injured during the incident. So Miller. claimed that this tugofwar ensued with. Patel attempting to pull her son out of. her arms before she was able to fight. him off. And this is what she told WSBTV. in Atlanta back in March. When I pointed. my arm out this way to point to the.

direction of where the Tylenol was, that. is when he reached down, put both of his. hands on my child, and grabbed him out. of my lap. I'm like, "No, no, no. What. are you doing? What are you doing?" He. pulled him. I pulled him back. We're tug. of waring. Now, shortly after this. encounter, she reported the incident to. a Walmart employee. And you can see her. speaking with a worker on the. surveillance footage. And what happens. three days later? Patel was arrested and. charged with attempted kidnapping, simple battery, and simple assault. But.

this is where the story takes a turn. Why? Patel's attorney, Ashley Merchant, she says that this surveillance footage. shows a very different story. And. really, it's just one of a. misunderstanding, not malice. Now, Ashley, who we're going to chat with in. a minute, provided us with segments of. Walmart surveillance footage, which she. claims contradicts Miller's account. Now, we watched through the footage and. saw everything from when Patel enters. the store right up to the interaction,

the aftermath, and I want to take you. through it, and you can decide for. yourself what you think might have. happened here. So, at around 8:16 p.m., you can see Mahendra Patel enter the. Walmart. 3 minutes later, at 8:19 p.m., Patel emerges from an aisle, scanning. the shelves, presumably searching for. Tylenol. And after a brief look around, he ducks back into the aisle. Moments. later, he reappears, still seemingly. searching for the meds. The next time he. appears from that aisle is when he spots. Caroline Miller in a motorized scooter.

with her two young children. Tell on. tape appears to approach Miller, according to Merchant, to ask about the. Tylenol. And the two talk briefly before. he steps back, allowing her to guide him. toward the correct aisle. And as they. turn into the aisle, something happens. Yang angle kind of obscures the. interaction, but Miller claims that is. when Patel tried to grab her son, but. the footage doesn't seem to show a. struggle, right? Patel claims he was. just trying to prevent her son from. falling off the scooter. Now, Miller.

points Patel toward the Tylenol before. backing up, only to crash into a. display, catching the attention of a. bystander in an orange shirt, who rushes. to help with her children. And Patel. reappears holding a box of medicine, speaks briefly to the man in arge, and. then continues on calmly walking past. Miller as if nothing unusual occurred. And I'm going to show you this from a. different angle. So from another camera, we see Patel on the right hand side. emerging from that aisle, walking out of. view to talk with Miller. And there they.

are exchanging words before Miller can. be seen leading Patel to the aisle. Now, we can't see what happens when they. disappear behind a display case. But. whatever it was, it did catch the. attention of the man in the orange. shirt. You can see him turn his head. And when we see Miller and Patel again, we get a much closer look at Miller. directing Patel down the aisle before. turning around to leave. And from this. angle, we can see again when she crashes. into that display case and the. subsequent efforts of the man in the. orange shirt to help her. Patel seems to.

re-enter the frame, medicine in hand, exchanging words with the bystander, appears to walk away, doesn't look. unhurried, doesn't look unbothered. There's an overhead angle inside the. store that shows Patel stopping to show. Miller the Tylenol that he found, receiving a thumbs up in return. He. checks out at the register, pays with. his debit card, pauses to chat with an. employee before exiting the store. Nothing on its face that might suggest. he was fleeing the scene as has been.

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I want to bring on the woman. representing Mr. Patel, criminal defense. attorney Ashley Merchant. Ashton, thank. you so much for coming here on Sidebar. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Now, you have said that this is all a. misunderstanding. Can you elaborate on. that because I don't know what the. disconnect is? I mean, the audience just. saw the footage that we played. We see. the criminal charges. What is the. misunderstanding? Yeah, there is a huge misunderstanding. And I think it's as simple as two. people, you know, experiencing the same.

thing, but experiencing it in very. different ways. I mean, it's obvious. from watching the footage that Mr. Patel. was not meaning any harm. He wasn't. trying to abduct a child. He wasn't. trying to assault a child. I mean, he's. charged with battery. He's charged with. assault. He's charged with attempted. kidnapping. And if you watch the. footage, that definitely didn't happen. Um, if you watch it and you view it. through Mr. Patel's perspective, you. know, this is a lady who's in a. handicapped cart who he thought is. handicapped, got two young children, and. you can see from the video is having. some trouble managing them, having some.

trouble with the cart, and she starts to. rise to point out, you can see this on. the video, starts to rise to point out. where the Tylenol is, and it looks like. her child is falling, which is really. confirmed by the fact that moments later. when Mr. Patel leaves and goes to get. the Tylenol, the child does fall and she. runs the child's foot over. I mean, literally seconds later, this does. happen. So, it's very reasonable that. that's what Mr. Patel thinks is going. on. Um, the fact that that someone would. interpret that as an attempted. kidnapping, it defies logic. Um, there's. a gentleman within arms reach. She's.

watching the entire thing and I've. spoken to him and he said, "This is the. guy in the orange shirt. This is the guy. in the orange shirt." Yeah. We we. interviewed him. My investigator. interviewed him and there, you know, he. said if anything was happening, a. kidnapping, an abduction was happening, I would have done something. There was. no struggle, nothing like that. I mean, he's right there. He would have done. something. And you can tell he's a good. Samaritan because when she does bump. into the cart, when she does bump into. the actual end cap and she does run her. child's foot over, he immediately jumps, you know. So, this guy is clearly.

watching, clearly there to help. Um, and. he doesn't do anything, you know. And, and on these videos, you see all these. different Walmart employees walking. around. Nobody runs over. If Mr. Patel. is trying to kidnap a child in the. middle of a crowded Walmart, someone's. going to come. Why is she alleging this then? Why do. police believe there was something more. nefarious going on here? I mean, I think. the problem with the police is that they. didn't fully investigate. I think that. the police regularly have what I would. call blinders on and they only see one. version and they don't actually.

investigate the whole case. Um, I don't. know why this lady would make this up. I. don't know why she would make this. allegation. You know, it's very suspect. She waited 30 minutes to call 911. I. mean, I've got two daughters. If someone. was trying to kidnap one of my children, you better believe I'm be screaming at. the top of my lungs, running around like. a crazy person in that Walmart. Um, you. know, she that's not happening. She's. literally joking with this gentleman. moments later and then, you know, puttering along on her cart. She waits. 30 minutes to call 911. I mean, this is. not the reaction of someone who's.

actually just had their child attempted. to be kidnapped. Do you know if police. attempted to contact your client before. taking him into custody, get his side of. the story? No, they didn't. They took a. warrant out and they arrested him. They. did do an interview with him when they. arrested him and he told exactly what. he's told us. Um, you know, he told them. exactly what happened. So, they did. that, but they did that after they had. already secured a warrant for. kidnapping. Why is he, by the way, being. held without bond. Yeah. You know, that's kind of a a legal maneuvering and. legal snafu almost. I mean, it's just.

it's a it's a problem with our system. What's happened is the officer arrested. him for kidnapping of a minor. He took. significant liberties with that warrant. there was no evidence of kidnapping and. so he he misrepresented some facts to. the magistrate to get that warrant. That. is such a serious crime that you don't. get a bond when you're in front of that. magistrate judge. So Mr. sitting in jail. without bond and then we file and get a. bond hearing and the district attorney. decided instead of giving us that bond. hearing which is an adversarial hearing. which I can subpoena witnesses I can.

cross-examine witnesses instead of doing. that they wanted to go to a grand jury. in a secret private setting where. there's no other side there's no defense. lawyer questioning there's no. subpoenaing of evidence and present it. in a one-sided fashion to that grand. jury and they did that and so when they. indicted the case it was no longer. longer in front of the magistrate judge. It went to the new judge. It went to the. the trial judge, the superior court. judge is what we call it here in. Georgia. And so that bond hearing was. done away with. So we were denied the. ability to get bond. And we've had a.

administration change here um in this. county for the DA's office and the new. DA's office does not um freely consent. to bond like the old district attorney's. office did. And so we're in a situation. where I've been asking repeatedly for a. consent bond and can't get it. And so. the first opportunity we had for bond is. next Tuesday. And so that's when the. bond is going to be heard. And at that. point, he's going to be in jail over 40. days. Le let's put that to the side. I. want to talk about what we can expect. from that hearing. It it seems to me. what's going on is there is a.

disagreement over the footage. Why do I. say that, Ashley? Because the police are. saying essentially the video we just saw. was edited. Sergeant Eric Mistreda of. the Aworth Police Department said in a. statement, "The video released by the. attorney does not show the entire. incident. It seems to have been edited. It's not the video we have. Now, the. Daily Mail says they never got any copy. of the footage that the police. department says they have. What's going. on here, Ashley? What's your response? I. am so glad you asked that. So, let me.

start with um Sergeant Mstretta. He also. issued a statement when Mr. Patel was. first arrested and said that Mr. Patel. tried to flee the scene. And you know, we can clearly see from the videos that. that's not the case. What happened is. we've got all the videos. We sent them. to you. There's 20 different. surveillance videos, over an hour each, many, many hours of footage. The news is. not going to play 20 hours of. surveillance footage. What the news is. going to play are clips of that. surveillance footage. And so what we did. was we put together a 5 and a half or so.

minute clip. And there's two views. So. this is really important. There's two. views of this incident, this alleged. incident. There's a view where you can. see Mr. Patel's back and there's a view. from the ceiling. And what I wanted was. I wanted the viewer to be able to see. everything clearly, not just one clip. And so what we did was in real time we. had it go back and forth. So you see the. camera where you see his back and then. you see the exact same moments but from. the overhead camera and then it goes. back and you see the back camera and. then you see the overhead camera. All of.

it's there. It's just there in a. different sequence so that the viewer. can actually get more of a 360 view of. what's happening. It's not edited. It's. not cut. It's not anything like that. just two different views that are are. compiled. It's called a compilation is. what it's called. Um but all of that. footage has been released. We have all. of the footage. So So just to be clear, nothing was cut out like the moment when. he allegedly tried to kidnap the child. Nothing like that. I guess the question. is why are the police saying this? I. mean you I imagine you presented this.

footage to law enforcement, right? Did. they have it? Have you gotten a response. about presenting this? You know, I would. hope that they have it. I don't know. what they have because in their they. have not responded to us and in their. police report they said that they viewed. it but that they didn't secure it. So. God knows what they actually have. because they left that Walmart without. getting the footage. Um we subpoenaed. the footage. And so what we did was we. actually have a business record. certificate from Walmart that is. admissible in court that says this is a. true and exact copy of the entire.

footage. The court is very specific. That is a sworn statement from Walmart. that we have the entire footage. We have. submitted that to the district. attorney's office. I don't know why the. police have continued to make these. misrepresentations, but it's repeated. and it's getting ridiculous. They made. misrepresentations in the arrest. warrant. They made misrepresentations in. their report that Mr. Patel fled. He. didn't flee. He checked out with his own. debit card. He talked to two separate. employees after this. He was having a.

good old time at Walmart chatting up. different employees. He didn't flee. He. did the exact opposite of fleeing. And. so to be clear, you don't know what. police looked at, what footage they. have, right? No. No. We don't know what. police looked at, but what we do know is. that we have the true and complete and. full copy of the Walmart surveillance. videos. And do you plan to present that. in court at this upcoming hearing? Definitely. And we've already filed. notice that we do that. And we filed the. business record certificate, which is. what we're required to do. you know, it's um once the the business owner once.

Walmart certifies the records, they're. admissible in court. They're ruled. authentic. And so that's been done, there's been no challenge to it. You. know, the police apparently in the news. have challenged the authenticity of it, but there's been no challenge in court. What about the prosecutor's office? What. have they said about it? You know, the. prosecutor's office is not um you know, not not been willing to consent to bond, which is disappointing. Um and so we'll. see. You know, we've got to we'll see. what their position is on bond next. week, but I mean, I'm hoping that they. would view all of the footage and do the.

right thing. When you say that, so if. you present this footage, right, and the. court looks at and says, "Wait a minute. I don't see what's being alleged here.". Could the case just be dropped at that. hearing? I mean, what can we expect. would happen uh at that hearing? What's. the best case scenario for you and your. client? The best case scenario is the. district attorney drops the charges, drops the case entirely, and the judge. actually doesn't have the ability to do. that. So, it's crazy because you have. the ability in civil lawsuits for a. judge to dismiss a case, but not in. criminal lawsuits. So, the judge. actually cannot dismiss the charges. Um,

what the judge can do is grant a bond, but we need the district attorney to. actually dismiss the charges. I want to ask you about something else, Ashley. So, this change.org petition, this is demanding justice for Mr. Patel. It is surged. It's amassed thousands of. signatures from supporters who call his. arrest a grave miscarriage of justice. In fact, part of that petition reads, "While it is undeniable that child. kidnapping is a grievous crime that. needs to be tackled rigorously, Patel. has been singled out without compelling.

evidence, leaving a question mark on the. fairness of the justice system of Cobb. County." And one supporter's stark war. warning cuts pretty deep because that. person writes, "I am Patel." You know, it's a metaphorical sense, but I've. learned one harsh truth in this country. Don't help anyone. Even if someone is. dying in front of you, don't intervene. because trying to do the right thing can. cost you everything. There's also this. give SendGo campaign to raise funds to. help the Patels. Ashley, what is your. reaction to the public support uh that.

Patel is receiving? It's amazing because. normally, you know, I'm trying to beat. down doors to get people to come to. court for my client and in this case, we. actually can't handle the volume of. support. I don't believe I've ever had a. client that had so many members of the. community that know him personally. And. I'm not talking about just random. members of the community. I'm talking. pillars of the community that know him. well that have called us. We had um I. I'll tell you a crazy story on that. Um. my kids go to school here in Cobb County. and one of my daughters came home from. school and said, "My teacher knows your.

client." And said, "I hope you get him. out." I mean, it's, you know, this is a. a teacher that teaches children who's. saying this to a child about this. alleged kidnapper. We've had neighbors. who called us and said, you know, we. love Mick. They call him Mick. Mick is. what he goes by. We love Mick. Our kids. wait for the bus and the bus stop wait. is in his driveway. You know, I mean, it's just lots of kids, lots of people. have reached out and said, "We know him. We love him." Not just people that don't. know him, that have seen this and said. this is an injustice, but people that. know him, that have been in his home,

that have shared meals with him, that. know him in the community, they love. him. And you know, this is just it's. it's awful because if the police had. bothered to talk to anybody, they could. have verified why he was there. I mean, he was there to buy Tylenol because he. cares for his 86-year-old mother who. lives with him who's immobile and. suffers from osteoarthritis. He was. there to buy her Tylenol. They seized. his phone. They could have seen the. texts in the phone from his daughter. who's in medical school who is literally. texting him which type of Tylenol to get. for Nana. I mean, this is all things. that the police could have done if they. had bothered to actually investigate.

Why do you think then? I mean, taking. that as true, why do you think there was. this rush to arrest and and and um what. seems to be, you're suggesting, a. sloppy, incomplete investigation? I think that Miss Miller made. allegations that were taken out of. context and incorrect. And I think that. the police did not do enough follow-up. I think that they made some public. statements that this, you know, this is. a public outcry and the, you know, anytime there's a public outcry and the. and the community thinks that there's a. child kidnapper on the loose, the police.

are very quick to make arrests. Very. quick. And they sort of did more to. ignite this public clamoring and, you. know, the public being so terrified of. of whatever's happening. And so, the. public really wanted an arrest and the. police want to deliver. You know, they. want to make the public happy. They want. to to solve the case. And so I think. they're just very quick to make an. arrest without looking at everything. And talking about Miss Miller for a. second. So it appears that she had. previously filed a lawsuit back in 2019. against Lyft, alleging she was sexually.

assaulted by a driver. This is according. to reporting from the Associated Press. And the outlet reports that she was one. of 19 women who filed jointly against. the ride share company in December of. 2019. It's a case that still appears to. be unresolved. Ashley, do you believe. anything about that is relevant to your. case at hand? Oh, I definitely do. I. think that um it could go to what the. motivations were in her making this. allegations. Whether the motivations are. to sue Walmart, to sue my client, you. know, something like that, that could. definitely be um at play here. And you.

know, I had to investigate that case. because we found the lawsuit. And in the. lawsuit, you have to for a civil case, you have to swear to the facts in your. lawsuit. And so the facts that she swore. to are that she was raped. And so I went. and I pulled the police report because. if you know obviously if she is a victim. of of sexual assault um you know then. then that's not something that we want. to talk about. Um I pulled the police. report and she specifically told the. police she was not raped. So you know. you've got this statement to law. enforcement where she says she's not. raped and then you've got this statement. in a lawsuit where she's trying to get. money saying that she is. That's.

inconsistent. And so if she's made prior. false allegations, whether the. motivation is for attention, is for. money, whatever the motivations are, that's highly relevant to her. allegations in this case. Highly. relevant. I was going to ask you how. that might actually come into a legal. case, right? She's not the defendant, right? Your client is. How would you be. able to present evidence of this unless. she takes the stand and you can. cross-examine her about this? Is that. the way that you would be able to. introduce it? That's exactly how if she. and she would have to take the stand.

she would have to take the stand to. sustain this case. And so if she takes. the stand, then we're permitted to. cross-examine her about this because. it's what we consider a prior false. allegation. And so because the. allegation was made that she swore in a. complaint that she was raped and then. she told law enforcement that she. wasn't, that's a prior false allegation. and that's admissible to impeach her. As. we were talking about uh Patel's bond. hearing, it's set for May 6. He's. currently remains behind bars. He has. the support. He has you backing him, Ashley. How is he doing right now? How's. his family doing right now? I think he's.

doing better than his family. You know, it's been tough. At first, it was really. tough because the news was all. condemning him. You know, before we got. this video footage and before we were. able to actually expose the truth, the. news and the police, you know, Sergeant. Mreda had made statements, very specific. statements about, "Thank God we caught. him. You know, this child could have. died." I mean, just very prejuditial. statements. And so, it was really tough. at the beginning. Now that the story has. come out and the truth has come out, things have definitely shifted, but it's. still awful. He's incarcerated without. bond. It's horrible. I mean, can you.

imagine being snatched from your life. without any warning for 40 days? If you. think about it, if you take a vacation. for five days, you plan for, you know, five weeks. This is a man who has. business, has family, and he was. snatched without any warning from his. life for at this point, you know, almost. 40 days. That's significant, but it's. very difficult for his family. I mean, he's got two adult children. They're. both in school. They're actually in. graduate school. And so, you know, right. now it's May. It's finals time. This is. very difficult for them. This is. difficult for his wife. She's having to. maintain their businesses while he's in. custody. It's difficult for their.

friends. It's just awful that he's had. to sit in jail this long, especially. when we have a video that shows he's. innocent. Does he plan to take any legal. action in response? You know, I'm not. sure. I mean, it's a lot's going to. depend on how this how this works out. I. mean, I think at this point he'd be. happy with a dismissal and an apology. Um, but you know, we'll see because he's. still in jail and we're still finding. out what's happening. We don't have the. state's file yet. So, you know, we don't. know what the police had in front of. them. I think that will really inform. that decision to see what evidence the.

police actually had in front of them. when they made this. Did, you know, did. Miss Miller lie? Did they not have these. surveillance videos? Why did they. believe that this was a kidnapping case? And just to be 100% clear, is there any. footage that's missing? Is there. anything part of this encounter you say, "We just don't have this part. This. part's obscured. We haven't seen this. part." Is there anything missing? Or do. you say I I have a full picture of. everything that went down in that store. and afterwards? There is nothing. missing. We have got so much footage. We. have him entering the store. We have him. leaving the store. We have him driving.

We have I mean we have all of the. relevant surveillance footage, everything from when he was in that. store. Ashley Merchant, we're going to. keep an eye out for this. Thank you so. much for sharing the footage uh for us. We sent it, you know, we presented it. for our audience as well uh to see, but. thank you so much and appreciate you. taking the time. Thank you. Good to see. you. And that's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us and as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. I'm Jesse. Weber. Speak to you next time.

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