Georgia Man Who Spent 6 Weeks in Jail on a Kidnapping Charge Says He Was Helping a Falling Child

Mahendra Patel was charged with battery, assault, and attempted kidnapping. He was granted bond.

After spending 45 days in a Cobb County, Georgia, jail on a charge of attempted kidnapping, Mahendra Patel was released on Tuesday on a $10,000 bond after a judge determined he was not a threat to the community. Patel, 57, was arrested on March 18 and initially denied bail after a mother accused him of trying to kidnap her 2-year-old son in an Atlanta-area Walmart. 

According to the police report, Patel approached 26-year-old Caroline Miller and her two young children in the Walmart to ask for help finding Tylenol. Miller was sitting on a motorized shopping cart provided for disabled customers (even though she is not disabled) and had her toddler son on her lap. Miller told WSB-TV Atlanta that Patel grabbed the toddler and started "tug of warring" with her before letting go. Miller later reported the incident to 911 operators. "I had to rip my baby out of some other man's hands because he was trying to snatch him," Miller told the operator. "It all happened so fast, and he was out of the store, and while I was talking to the manager, he left."  

Patel was subsequently arrested and charged with assault, battery, and kidnapping, which was later amended to attempted kidnapping. 

However, security footage shown during Patel's latest bail hearing has been used to question the mother's claims. Patel's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, claimed that Patel believed Miller was disabled due to the motorized cart and was merely trying to help stabilize the toddler as the mother began standing up from the cart. Merchant argued that Patel had no intention of taking the boy. Witnesses also failed to corroborate Miller's story and did not recall seeing any kind of attempted kidnapping. "The video couldn't be clearer: Mr. Patel did not try to kidnap this child," said Merchant. 

Prosecutor Jesse Evans, on the other hand, argued that the security footage does in fact back up the mother's story and shows Patel tugging on the 2-year-old boy's leg before returning her son to her lap. Evans also highlighted Patel's criminal history—a past low-level felony conviction and a pending DUI case—and evidence that Patel may have been intoxicated during the incident (a point refuted by the defense). Additionally, Evans argued that Patel's statements during an interview with police that he knew Miller thought he was taking her kid and wanted to apologize for what he had done were further proof that Patel is a danger to the community.

After hearing both arguments, the judge presiding over the bail hearing determined that Patel was "entitled to a bond" and "doesn't have any type of conviction that bothers me in terms of any type of violent behavior." Patel was granted a bond and released later the same day after spending over six weeks in custody. He still faces charges, including attempted kidnapping. An individual is considered guilty in the state of Georgia of attempted kidnapping if found to have attempted to "abduct or steal away another person without lawful authority or warrant and holds such a person against his or her will," and includes even "slight movement" of another person. If convicted, Patel faces between one and 30 years in prison.