Take the hint already, police!  Indeed! Sureshbhai Patel of Pij, Gujarat, India, had only been in the United States, his new home, for a week when the following occurred. He is fluent in Gujarati and some Hindi, and he knows less English than I do Hindi.
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I was horrified this morning to read the following story from Alabama and wondered what happened that it hadn’t caught my eye last week. I don’t recall seeing a thing about it until this morning. It’s shocking, emotionally excruciating, and a shameful incident–as are all encounters involving police when brutality is involved–and I’m glad the officer has been arrested. Shame on the police in Madison, Alabama for taking far too long to call it and for initially defending the officer before having the facts. It took until yesterday for police officials in Madison to apologize to the family of Sureshbhai Patel!
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Here’s where my journey in following this story took me:
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Visiting from India, grandfather badly hurt in encounter; officer arrested
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Alabama police fire, arrest the officer who badly injured Indian grandfather during sidewalk stop
This article also contains the recording of the call to police as well as the police/dispatch conversation until the ambulance was on its way.
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The family of Mr. Patel has filed suit in Federal Court, and the FBI has stepped in to investigate, as they rightly should. According to Reuters yesterday, the results of the federal probe will be turned over to the US Department of Justice:
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Alabama policeman charged with assault after Indian man thrown to ground, injured
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But this is more than tragic that these new steps would have been taken so long after the incident that took place last week, on February 6. It’s appalling, and I am glad the FBI has stepped in, but follow these stories to see the path of what has occurred. It’s revolting! You might be able to excuse the actions of some who have been brutally handled because of misperceptions in the encounters. But when you have someone in your charge who obviously doesn’t even speak the language, you have absolutely not one shred of hope for understanding if you lay your hands on the person and throw him on the ground! Mr. Patel weighs 130 pounds (59 kg)! You have no excuse!
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Yesterday’s Washington Post announced the arrest of the officer. What took you so long, Madison Police?
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Alabama police officer arrested after Indian grandfather left partially paralyzed
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From the Washington Post: “First, I’m hoping that the truth will come out, second that this case might bring to life the real issues we have in this country about the police abuse of power where someone can’t try to blame it on the victim,” Hank Sherrod, the family’s attorney, told the Washington Post. “Here we’ve got someone who is truly blameless and innocent. He was brutalized, and hopefully will, but may never, walk again.”
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Indeed!
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Because of this incident, I went in search for times so I could explore the events as they happened on the 6th of February. I will be doing more stories related to racism as they play out in astrology as well and, in fact, have the chart and had actually analyzed the slayings of the Muslim family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but my exhaustion this week caused me to fall asleep before posting it, and my computer did updates so I’ll have to rewrite the entire analysis. To Virdah Khan, my apologies. I haven’t forgotten and won’t.

I have little space to identify these charts in naming them. This one was the incident at the time the ambulance was on its way. The police apparently had already been there about 33 minutes, when Neptune-ruled Pisces was on the Ascendant.
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The angles in this chart show a 1° orb between the squares from the Midheaven (MC) to the Ascendant (ASC), with 4 crucial bodies–Neptune, Venus, Chiron, and Mars–caught in stellium in a 12th house Pisces interception by now. Saturn in the 8th house sits in square to Neptune, bringing out this theme I keep speaking about: “the peeling of Life’s onion.”
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Pluto is in the 10th house conjunct Ceres, where I personally look for the nurturing mother–in this case, India, the motherland–and Uranus, conjunct the South Node (SN) in a 55-minute approaching partile square to that 10th house placement, is on the rise in the 1st.
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An Eastern dominated 4th quadrant above-the-horizon emphasis quickly ensured this of becoming a public matter gathering speed. Even with that independent Eastern focus, take note that the Moon opposes the stellium and closes with Moon in a 3°22′ approaching oppositional orb to Mars.
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Take note as well of the Vertex opposing the East Point of the chart. While this was so unnecessary, it also was inevitable that as long as police officers continue to remain untrained on multiculturally sensitive issues, these kinds of tragic events will continue to occur.
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Frankly, I have already convicted the officer of assault and far more than the mere third degree assault charges he has garnered in addition to his having been fired. But yes, I’ll grant it’s a start. It would be a far better start if police departments around the United States of America actually began to take multicultural sensitivity training more seriously. For that matter, every single agency in the United States should be taking these steps even when they think they’re not going to need such tools. It’s smart thinking and most definitely, it’s time!
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The second chart is set for the time the hospital called Mr. Patel’s son, Chirag, to tell him of his father’s injuries. Take note of the 6-minute partile conjunction of Pluto to the MC!
By now, Uranus also moved to the 12th house in this second chart, and Mr. Patel’s son had learned of his father’s paralysis. Whether or not the paralysis is permanent hasn’t yet been revealed, but honestly: two or three officers on one 130-pound (59 kg) man who was described as very thin?? Talk about overkill! Is it any wonder that the Uranus-ruled Sun was making a mere 8-minute approaching partile opposition to Jupiter Rx? Of course the officer(s) went overboard in how Mr. Patel was treated! There is, as I said above, no excuse whatsoever!
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Yet one cannot help but notice the presence of Pluto in the 9th house by now. Don’t expect this situation to go away any time too soon, not with that 9th house presence. This incident will most likely bring the Devyani Khobragade case back into the limelight as well if India feels there are more international slights needing to be addressed. While the incident with Ms. Khobragade had been quelled for a time, it seems like this may not be how it ends up when all is said and done.
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In this case, Neptune creates the single heartbeat of this tragedy surrounding Mr. Patel’s paralysis. Whether he stays paralyzed or not isn’t going to be seen any time too soon. Both charts are showing the dynamics of this heartbeat. There was a failure to communicate and be understood. That’s Neptune. There was a failure to understand that this gentleman was not born in this country and an obvious failure to understand that intercultural sensitivity (Saturn-Neptune square here plays a role, again reflecting the “peeling of Life’s onion”) that showed in the steps taken, that one does not infringe on (the wish of the police to frisk Mr. Patel) one’s private space especially when this is considered to many visitors to the United States to be inappropriate behavior.
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Grandfather visiting Alabama from India stopped by police while taking walk, left partly paralyzed
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Because of the lack of communication, this insensitivity was exacerbated by the police failing to understand why Mr. Patel attempted to walk away in an effort to avoid being accosted. If you don’t understand the language, you can fail to interpret a command versus an attempt to accost. Is it your fault? NO! It is, however, the responsibility of authorities to ensure that these kinds of dramatic incidents don’t happen.
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I decided to look back to when Devyani Khobragade was arrested since there was an actual time of arrest. This was the day when she had charged the United States with a series of violations against her having been subjected to “indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping, and cavity searches, swabbing,” and to being held “with common criminals and drug addicts.” The US Marshals Service disagreed and stated she had been strip searched but not subjected to more than a “visual inspection” of body cavities, that “anyone taken to holding cells of the New York federal courthouse is automatically subjected to a strip search if they are placed among other prisoners.” The US Marshals Service further stated that if there had been a DNA sample taken, that the US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security would have been responsible for that as the arresting agency.

Pluto in the December 12, 2013 chart for the time of arrest is rising and conjunct the ASC as the arm of a T-square to Uranus Rx and intercepted with the 3rd house Moon and Mars also intercepted in the 9th. This chart also shows an Eastern dominance with a first quadrant emphasis but an even split between the above- and below-the-horizon hemispheres of the chart. The Moon in Mars-ruled Aries in this chart also plays a role as the arm of a second T-square to Venus in Saturn-ruled Capricorn (in a 31-minute partile conjunction to the East Point of the chart) in opposition to Jupiter in Moon- ruled Cancer in the 7th. The incident was nothing short of volatile and tense, and people were enraged, needless to say. The heartbeat of this chart was revealing a mutual reception between Pluto and Saturn, and clearly this was the emphasis of events as they were happening. The two T-squares side-by-side like that though just seemed so stunningly jarring since both were Cardinal, involved the law and a lot of political posturing.
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So now, with the situation focused on Mr. Patel and what will happen next, we take it to new levels since this was a situation where officials were incapable of speaking either Gujarati or Hindi. Now it’s true there are too many national languages to expect police and other agencies to use in their daily work, however more sensitivity toward people is mandatory! And where there is one person who has come from another country and doesn’t speak the language of the land, there’s a fairly good chance you’ll find someone in your vicinity who might be able to translate.
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Jupiter in the first chart, where the ambulance was on the way, falls 5°46′ in orb to the 6th house, but I have to point to Jupiter’s placement here in both the 5th and the 6th house–and remember, the Sun was also in opposition to Jupiter with an 8-minute orb, which means the Sun is in the 11th and 12th. The man’s health is in serious trouble now, and he is in the hospital, a 12th house reference. Again, Sureshbhai Patel may be paralyzed for life. We don’t yet know. But this incident should never have happened at all, and it wouldn’t have if intercultural training had been a part of the picture.
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The Moon was making a quindecile aspect (165°) to the ASC with a 1°17′ orb. Mercury and Jupiter, at 165°17′, were now a mere 17-minute partile orb to the perfected quindecile. Jupiter was also in a wider quindecile to Neptune with a 3°53′ orb. Now if that’s not enough, have a look at all of the quincunxes coming into play here:  Mars in a 1°58′ orb to the quincunx (150°) with Jupiter, the Sun in a 1°13′ orb to the Moon, and Moon was making a slightly wider quincunx to Uranus (2°47; I usually use 2° as the max and on *rare* occasion to 2°30, but this one seems relevant). Each of these quincunxes point to the caution that an adjustment was needed in the situation, and officers failed to acknowledge it. Surely Mr. Patel’s weight alone warranted their need to exercise discretion!
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By now, some of you might realize that my curiosity has extended to India’s Lunar Return for February since this situation with the police has made it an international affair. And true enough, the Lunar Return is consistent as well with events that have taken place in the last week:
Just days before the February 6 incident took place between Madison, Alabama police and Sureshbhai Patel, India had a Lunar Return, pointing to the Lunar Return (LR) Sun in Aquarius not only in opposition to Jupiter but in opposition to the natal Pluto-Saturn conjunction portion of Indian’s natal stellium in Leo.  In addition, this opposition was forming a T-square to natal Jupiter in the 4th house and in square to the opposing East Point in the 10th house. When I progressed the Lunar Return to the 12th of February when the Federal court papers were filed by Chirag Patel’s attorney on his father’s behalf, LR Saturn conjuncted the IC of the chart, again bringing “the peeling of Life’s onion” into play with the 8th house Venus-Neptune conjunction in square to Saturn. In this case, of course, it’s not a matter of life and death; but Pluto is clearly in this mix with Venus and Neptune in addition to a Mars-Chiron conjunction adding to concerns.
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The Solstice Point (Antiscia) for India’s Moon lies at 2 Gemini 54, creating a 41-minute partile opposition to LR Saturn and establishing what one could call a chill in the air between India and the United States in this matter. By the evening of the 19th or early on the 20th, I would imagine some international matters of the more formal kind would appear to be coming into play. At this time, Mars will be at the 29th degree of Pisces, conjuncting the Solar Eclipse that will be present on the 20th of March 2015, in square to India’s natal Mars. Apologies are simply going to have to be a priority in this matter, and it doesn’t look like a resolution will be found until that point.
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As for the offending officer, don’t look for him to return to the Madison Police Department any time too soon. They truly would be wise to prepare for some intercultural training before they consider this a done deal–whether or not the officer himself is allowed to return. (I doubt he will be allowed to, but stranger things have happened, haven’t they?)

©2015 Michelle Young