Neither Shah Alam's family nor attorneys were contacted when he was dropped on the streets of Buffalo.Mother Jones illustration; handout photo
On Tuesday evening, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind, seriously ill Rohingya refugee from Burma who does not speak English, was found dead in Buffalo—five days after Border Patrol dropped him off on a street corner without notifying his family, who had moved. He was 56.
The story of Shah Alam’s arrest in February of last year, as reported by the Investigative Post, reads as a situation all too familiar for disabled people who interact with the police—particularly disabled people of color. His original violent arrest, by police who apparently saw his walking stick as a weapon—and who, like the Border Patrol officers who dumped him, apparently made no attempt to reckon with his disability, his inability to speak English, or his mental state—set off a chain of events that ended in his death.
In need of a walking stick, he managed to find his way down the block to a shop that sold curtain rods, where he purchased one. Curtain rod in hand, Shah Alam strolled his Black Rock neighborhood until the weather turned colder, [his attorney Benjamin] Macaluso said. He attempted to walk home, but, confused, ended up at a stranger’s house instead.
He found himself on a woman’s porch just as she was letting her dog out, Macaluso said.
“He comes from a place where people don’t keep dogs,” Macaluso said. “The dog’s freaking out. He’s freaking out. She calls the police and says there’s an unidentified Black man in my driveway.”
When Buffalo police arrived, Macaluso said, they ordered him to drop his curtain rod. But Shah Alam was not able to understand them—or even see them clearly. After not complying with repeated orders, the two officers Tasered him, tackled and beat him, Macaluso said.
Shah Alam took a plea deal earlier this month, which led to his release. His attorney Macaluso and his family spent Friday through Sunday looking for Shah Alam. “He cannot use a phone,” Macaluso told Investigative Post. “He doesn’t know his address, he doesn’t know phone numbers, he can’t communicate, he can’t see. And they just left him.”
A missing persons case was opened by the Buffalo Police Department on Sunday, but the Buffalo Police Department closed it the following day, operating on the incorrect assumption that Shah Alam was in ICE detention.
House Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.) has called for an investigation into Shah Alam’s death. “Mr. Alam should be alive and with his loved ones today. Instead, after days of fear and uncertainty, his family is now grieving an unimaginable loss,” Kennedy said, according to news station WIVB. “There must be a full and transparent investigation at the local, state, and federal levels. The public and Mr. Alam’s family deserve answers immediately.”
