Googler mad over cop scrap

A Google engineer is promising to take legal action after he says he was knocked about by police.

Ali Afshar, Google engineering manager and former CTO of Microlink, claims he was driving in Silicon Valley (he wouldn't name the city or police department) when he spotted a man in handcuffs surrounded by four police officers.

Afshar, who also has a background in medicine, said he approached the cops out of concern for the man, who appeared to be upset and was muttering to himself. Afshar thought that he might have been mentally disturbed. Upon approaching, however, the engineer says he was immediately set upon by the plod, who tackled him and accused him of resisting arrest.

"And before I knew it, I was face first on the sidewalk," Afshar said. "I didn't fight or protest or resist – I'm a nerdy non-violent type. And then things started to get really weird."

From there, Afshar says the police falsely accused him of presenting a fake ID, and injured his back, finger, and arms. He was taken to the police station and, despite being threatened with arrest for disobeying officers and resisting, was released with a citation for driving without a seatbelt.

Now, Afshar says, he will seek legal action against the four police officers involved in the incident.

"I have privileges that the other poor guy could never have," Afshar said. "And I am going to use them. I'll see you in court with a badass lawyer." ®