Man Sues Cobb DA, Acworth Police In Wrongful Arrest Claim: Reports

ACWORTH, GA — A man formerly accused of trying to snatch a child away from their mother while at a Cobb Parkway retail store last year has reportedly filed a federal lawsuit after his wrongful arrest.

Acworth Police arrested Kennesaw resident Mahendra Patel in March 2025 after he was accused of approaching the mother to inquire about Tylenol and grabbing her child while trying to "pull the child away from the mother," police said at the time.

They said the attempt was thwarted when the mother broke her child away from Patel, and they charged him with simple assault, simple battery and kidnapping.

However, the case against him was dropped in August after he was jailed for 47 days, WXIA-TV reported.

Patel has now filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, Acworth Police and Caroline Miller, the child's mother, WANF-TV reported.

RELATED: Child Kidnap Attempt Foiled; Man Charged In Acworth

“There was a concerted effort to make sure Mr. Patel went down for a crime they knew he did not commit,” Solomon Radner, Patel's civil rights attorney told reporters.

Patel asserted charges against him were pressed without probable cause and that surveillance video inside the store supported his claim. The footage was shared in the WXIA-TV report.

He is requesting compensation for damage he said he and his family endured, WANF-TV reported.

"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, because if you think that this only affects the person charged with the crime, you're wrong," Radner said in the WXIA-TV report. "It affects the family perhaps just as much, sometimes even more."

The defendants have not publicly spoken on the lawsuit.