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Eric Parker Retrial, Artur Davis Suing Democratic Party

Eric Parker
Brynn Anderson
/
AP
Former Madison police officer Eric Parker

Federal prosecutors are trying for a second time to convict former Madison police officer Eric Parker of using unreasonable force when questioning an Indian man in February.

57 year old Sureshbhai Patel appears to have been slammed to the ground by Parker in a police dash camera video.

Robert Posey is the first assistant U.S. attorney for the northern district. He says the prosecution has good evidence on their side.

“Civil rights cases are important to us. We feel like the evidence we have is good. The jury has video evidence they can see. We feel that these cases deserve resolution so that’s why we’re going to try it again.”

Patel was severely injured in the scuffle. Patel, who does not speak English, had only been in the U.S. for just over a week before the incident.

He might have been a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention just three years ago, but Artur Davis says he is a better fit with Southern Democrats.

Davis, a former Democratic congressman, is currently waging a legal battle to run for the Montgomery County Commission as a Democrat.

Davis tells The Associated Press he’s a political centrist and supports issues like an increase in the minimum wage.

Davis was a four-term Democratic congressman and ran for governor of Alabama as a Democrat in 2010. He affiliated himself with the GOP after losing the Democratic primary.

Davis filed a lawsuit last week after the Alabama Democratic Party refused to reinstate him. Davis says the party has welcomed back all other party-switchers, including Parker Griffith, the Democratic candidate for governor last year.

Seventh ranked Alabama beat Tennessee for the ninth straight year Saturday.

But the outcome was a little more uncertain than many Tide fans may have hoped. The game was low-scoring and full of drive-killing mistakes and penalties for Alabama. Tennessee gained a one-point lead over Alabama late in the 4th quarter before quarterback Jake Coker and running back Derrick Henry engineered a 71 yard scoring drive to seal the game.

Coach Nick Saban says his team’s grueling schedule may have contributed to their performance.

“We were tired out there today, dead-legged, didn’t look very quick, didn’t look very fast. Didn’t have a lot of energy, like we usually do. And I think that’s playing eight games in a row. But the best thing I can say is, you gotta really respect guys that – a team that finds a way to win.”

The Crimson Tide is off this weekend. They’ll host the undefeated and fourth-ranked LSU Tigers in Bryant-Denny Stadium November 7.

A new study shows more than a quarter of Alabama’s uninsured are in the "coverage gap", and would qualify for Medicaid if the state expanded its program.

A study released earlier this month by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates there are 139,000 Alabamians in the coverage gap. They are too poor to qualify for federal insurance subsidies, but can't get Medicaid because the state has not raised income limits.

The Affordable Care Act provides the vast majority of the money to help states expand Medicaid, but many Republican-controlled states have declined.

Gov. Robert Bentley said late last year that he was open to a form of Medicaid expansion if the federal government would let the state put stipulations like requiring employment in the program.

Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina have the largest number of people in the health insurance coverage gap.

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