A Georgia father accused of trying to abduct a toddler in the aisles of Walmart is speaking out to clear his name.
Mahendra Patel, 56, insists mother-of-two Caroline Miller, 26, wrongfully accused him.
On March 18, Miller was riding a motorized shopping cart with her two-year-old son and four-year-old daughter when Patel stopped her to ask her where the Tylenol was.
What happened next has sparked furious social media chatter and debate - and landed Patel in jail.
Miller claims Patel distracted her with the Tylenol question, then tried to lift her son Jude out of her lap. She claims a 'tug of war' ensued, and that she heroically stopped him from taking the little boy.
He tells a completely different version of events.
The motorized cart led him to believe that the young mother was disabled.
As she answered his question about the Tylenol, Patel - who his own kids - says he noticed the boy losing his balance. He says he grabbed him to stop him from falling to the ground, and was only trying to steady him.
Five minutes after their interaction, Miller informed a Walmart employee that Patel tried to snatch her son. It wasn't until later that she called police.
Three days later, he was arrested and thrown in the county jail, where he has since been hit with threats.
Mahendra Patel, 56, has been in jail since late March on suspicion of kidnapping. He insists he's been wrongfully accused
Caroline Miller, 26, claims Patel tried to snatch her two-year-old son from her lap in the aisle of their local Walmart
Patel's relatives say they only learned about the charges he was facing on the news, once his face was splashed across the media alongside Miller's claims.
A family friend tells Daily Mail they 'automatically' knew there had to 'have been a mistake'.
'There's just like absolutely no way like he would ever do something like that,' they said.
They blasted Miller, who has gone on a media tour to accuse him of child-snatching.
'How manyinterviews can this person do? She is just making so many assumptions on the person he is just based on her one interaction,' they said.
Patel was looking for a specific kind of Tylenol for his ailing 86-year-old mother.
Shetakes twice a day, 'and that's probably why he was frantically looking for it.'
They added thatPatel's wife is 'distraught' not speaking to anyone since her husband's humiliating arrest.
Patel, meanwhile, is struggling behind bars.
'He's not doing well. It's awful. He's being threatened. I mean, you can imagine, he's in here for child kidnapping.People in jail aren't treated well if they're accused of harming a child,' attorney Ashleigh Merchant tells Daily Mail.
Walmart footage reviewed by DailyMail.com appears to contradict Miller's version of events.While Miller describes a 'tug of war' between she and Patel, 20 videos from different angles show no such confrontation.
On March 18, Patel approached Miller in the Walmart in Acworth, Georgia, to ask if she knew where the Tylenol was. She was riding a motorized scooter with both of her children hanging off it
After encountering Patel, Miller spoke with another man in Walmart (above). Both her kids are seen with her
Patel paid for his Tylenol then left the store without a fuss
Patel had gone to the Walmart to buy drugs for his elderly mother
The videos show Patel and Miller interacting three times. After Patel walks into the Walmart, he approaches Miller to ask for help in locating the Tylenol - a detail that both Miller and Merchant agree on.
Moments later, Miller and Patel cross paths again. This is when Miller claimsgrabbed her son and wouldn't let go, leading to a struggle.
But the video fails to show any struggle.
Patel is only seen briefly leaning towards Miller, whois not disabled but was driving the motorized cart, with both of her children precariously on it.
The video then shows Patel stepping back from the scooter as Miller points once again toward a location in the distance.
Miller is then seen smiling as she chats with a man in an orange shirt, before she backs into a product display. The man then is seen helping her with her children and the items on the mobility scooter.
She and Patel cross paths are third time and he appears to show her he has found the Tylenol.
Miller called police later that night. She has since done a number of TV interviews about what she insists was an attempted kidnapping
Patel's lawyer pointed out that Miller has previously been involved in litigation against companies. In 2021 she filed a lawsuit against Lyft saying she had been raped by a driver. The case is ongoing
Patel maintains that he assumed the woman was disabled when he saw her riding the motorized cart. He says her toddler son was about to fall, and that he was trying to catch him
The footage also makes it clear that Patel did not flee the scene. Instead, he calmly paid for his medicine before leaving.
Despite the video footage and his claims, the Acworth Police Department is standing by the arrest.
'The video released by the attorney does not show the entire incident,' Eric Mistretta said.
'It seems to have been edited... it's not the video we have.'
The department declined to share their footage with DailyMail.com.
Several inquiries to the Cobb County district attorney's office went unanswered on Wednesday.
'I have no idea if they showed the video or not [to the grand jury]. But if you see the entire video, it's very clear what's happening. I mean, there's really no mistaking it,' Patel's lawyer Merchant said.
When asked why Miller would make up such horrific claims against an innocent name,Patel's lawyer pointed out that Miller has previously been involved in litigation against companies.
Patel is originally from India and moved to the US in the 1990s. He has been in Cobb County since 2004 and never had any trouble with the law, per his family
In 2021 she filed a lawsuit against Lyft saying she had been raped by a driver. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Meanwhile, a change.org petition is shining a light on Patel's version of events, and people are leaving comments expressing support for the father.
One comment read: 'I have left my kids with him many times. He is exactly opposite of what he is accused of and video evidence clearly shows that he was helping the kid who almost fell down.'
Another added: 'This is a horrible case of discrimination. Video shows a humble man who is trying to help. Now people will hesitate to help someone who really needs help.'
A third said: 'The video clearly shows he was not trying to "kidnap" the kid and was not "fleeing" the scene.
'The woman and the police department need to be held accountable. This is disgusting behavior.'
