Alabama state prosecutors are looking to drop their charges against a former north Alabama police officer accused of assaulting an Indian man during a suspicious person investigation.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange filed a motion to dismiss the case against Eric Parker in Limestone County Circuit Court yesterday. Parker was recorded slamming 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel to the ground in February of last year. Patel was out for a walk when he was approached by police.
Parker says Patel resisted him. Patel has said through an interpreter that he doesn't speak English and didn't understand Parker's orders.
Two federal civil rights trials against Parker ended in hung juries before he was ultimately acquitted. Strange says there isn't sufficient evidence for the state to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mobile will be hosting its second annual state championship bicycle race known as the Tour de Bay.
Bicyclists will be making their way around the city this weekend.
The event features a specific race known as a criterium, or “crit.” Danny Corte is the Executive Director of the Mobile Sports Authority. He says the race is intense and will provide a lot of excitement.
“It’s a six-tenth closed course based out of Bienville Square in downtown Mobile. Its different heats, it’s something fun, it’s fun to watch, you might even see a crash or two.”
There will also be recreational rides for the more leisurely rider. For more information visit the Mobile Sports Authority website or the Tour de Bay Mobile website.
Some of the greenest thumbs in Alabama are gathering in the Wiregrass.
The Alabama Master Gardeners Association State Conference is underway in Dothan. The conference gives people the chance to learn more about everything from planting trees to writing grants.
Kerry Smith is the state coordinator for the Alabama Extension System. She says the master gardeners act as teachers for those interested in gardening.
“We train the master gardeners to then network into community projects where they can share their knowledge we’ve given them and help other people learn to do things better, whether it’s growing a prize rose or a perfect pumpkin.”
Smith says there will also be tours of various botanical attractions in the Dothan area. The conference is being held at the Dothan Civic Center and will run until Saturday afternoon.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, the Alabama-born oldest person in the world, has died at the age of 116.
Jones was born in a small farming town in Lowndes County, Alabama in July 1899. She was one of 11 children born to African-American sharecroppers, and worked the fields as a girl before attending and graduating from a boarding school for black girls.
Jones moved to New York in 1923 during the early stages of the Harlem Renaissance and lived there ever since. Family members credit her long life to her generosity and love of family.
116-year-old Emma Morano of Italy is now the unofficial world’s oldest person, and the only person alive verified to have been born in the 1800s.