A Georgia man who was arrested and jailed on kidnapping accusations after an incident in an Acworth, Georgia, Walmart is suing his accusers, the Acworth Police, in federal court for allegedly violating his civil rights. 

Mahendra Patel and his attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Caroline Miller, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, and the Acworth Police. Miller accused Patel of attempting to kidnap her toddler inside a Walmart located in the Atlanta suburb. 

According to the complaint, police and prosecutors filed criminal charges without probable cause and held Patel in jail for over 40 days, despite surveillance footage that his attorneys say contradicts Miller’s story, in which she accused Patel of trying to grab her child. Miller claimed that she and Patel exchanged a heated set of words and a tugging match for her child, but video evidence shows that this did not occur. 

Attorney Solomon M. Radner said the lawsuit seeks accountability and damages from city officials and Miller.

“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,” Radner told 11 Alive News.

The incident occurred in March 2025, when Patel said he asked Miller for help finding Tylenol. Radner states that surveillance footage shows Miller riding a motorized scooter with two small children sitting in her lap. When Miller stood up to point to the medication, Patel reached down to prevent one of the children from falling. According to records, Miller later called police to report an attempted kidnapping. Police then arrested Patel on charges that they later dropped.

“A simple trip to Walmart to get a Tylenol turned into a nightmare,” Patel told Atlanta News First. 

Soon after the encounter with Patel, the surveillance footage shows Miller backing the scooter into a display, causing one of her children to fall off. Another man stepped in to steady the second child, as Patel had moments earlier. However, unlike Patel, the second man faced no charges.

Patel said the surveillance video, which his lawyers said contradicts the police report, is why he is free today.  

“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 daylight,” Patel told 11 Alive News.

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