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A new case of police brutality shakes the US after the death of a man without legs shot in California

2023-02-02T13:42:36.872Z


Police in Huntington Park, southeast Los Angeles County, shot dead Anthony Lowe, a 36-year-old black man who was armed with a knife and used a wheelchair.


By Alicia Victoria Lozano -

NBC News

LOS ANGELES — The tension in the United States over police brutality has risen a notch again.

Following the murder of Tire Nichols, officers in Huntington Park, southeast Los Angeles County, fatally shot a legless black man brandishing a large knife.

Police say 36-year-old Anthony Lowe, who lost both legs last year and had yet to receive prosthetics, stabbed a person to death last Thursday before they used a taser and shot him about 10 times in the upper part of the Body.

[They broadcast the video of a Latino police officer who shot a teenager armed with a knife in California]

Lowe's family wondered why it was necessary to kill a man who needed a wheelchair to get around.

“I want truth and justice to be done, because if Anthony had been shot by anyone else, being a disabled person, he would now be in jail for murder,” said Ebonique Simon, mother of Lowe's 15-year-old son.

"They wouldn't be on paid leave," she added.

Anthony Lowe. Courtesy of Ebonique Simon

Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide unit, which usually investigates shootings involving Huntington Park police, said the stabbing victim was a 46-year-old man who was found stable in a hospital, waiting to be operated.

Huntington Park police are preparing a report on the incident.

[Memphis police remove a seventh officer from his job for the brutal beating that took the life of Tire Nichols]

Huntington Park police declined to comment on Lowe's death or say what happened before the encounter because the shooting is under investigation.

The officers involved in Lowe's death, who have not been publicly identified, have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Huntington Park police said in a statement.

Family members of Anthony Lowe hold a press conference in front of the police department on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, in Huntington Park, Calif. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Lowe's relatives said they have received inconsistent information since learning of his death.

Police told the family they had assumed Lowe was homeless, but he had been living with his mother after losing both legs.

They were also told that Lowe had charged the police with a knife, but a witness statement did not appear to corroborate this.

 “The whole world has seen that video, and that is not what happened.

I don't even want my son to pick up the phone.

I don't want him to see the videos,” he stated.

[National protests over the beating death of Tire Nichols by Memphis police]

A grainy video shared on Twitter shows Lowe, his legs amputated at the knee, ditching his wheelchair and running down the sidewalk, followed by officers with guns drawn.

The shooting is not seen in the video, which does not show what led up to the encounter.

Huntington Park police said in a statement that officers responded to a report of a stabbing victim on the afternoon of January 26.

The victim, who had suffered a collapsed lung and internal bleeding, said he was attacked by a black man in a wheelchair. 

“The suspect dismounted from his wheelchair, ran up to the victim without provocation, and stabbed him in the side of the chest with a 12-inch meat cleaver,” police said in the statement.

"The suspect then ran back to the wheelchair and fled the scene in it," they added.

Officers later found Lowe nearby carrying a large knife and ignoring their orders, the statement said.

Lowe "threatened to advance or throw the knife" at police, who deployed two Tasers in an attempt to subdue him, according to the statement.

When this failed, Lowe was shot and killed on the sidewalk.

His family was not notified until the next morning, according to relatives, even though Lowe was carrying identification with his mother's address.

[This is what is known about the five officers accused of the death of Tire Nichols]

Ed Obayashi, a national law enforcement expert specializing in use-of-force investigations, who has seen the video on social media, said that to justify a shot, officers must show they were under immediate threat and considered reasonable alternatives. , including the use of a Taser.

“But here we see an individual who, by definition, seems physically incapable of resisting agents.

Even if he is armed with a knife, his mobility is severely limited," he stated.

Cry for justice and tears at the funeral of Tire Nichols, who died after a beating by police officers with a dark past

Feb 1, 202302:01

“I had no legs.

She appears to be at a clear physical disadvantage, which lessens the apparent threat to the agents,” she stated.

Lowe's older sister, Yatoya Toy, said her brother was afraid of law enforcement and would most likely run away, like Keenan Anderson, a black man who yelled, "They're trying to kill me George Floyd!"

during an altercation with Los Angeles police officers last month.

“The murder of George Floyd hit him hard,” Toy said of his brother.

“All this police brutality is the reason he ran away.

He feared for his life.

He was terrified,” he noted.

[Tyre Nichols' relatives say he was beaten by police officers at least 100 times]

Anderson died after being stunned six times after a traffic incident in Venice Beach.

He died on January 3, hours before Los Angeles police shot and killed Óscar León Sánchez, who was suffering from a mental health crisis, according to his relatives. 

Both Anderson's and Sanchez's families have filed lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles, which has 45 days to respond and has declined to comment on the matter.

Lowe's family says they intend to do the same against the city of Huntington Park and its police department.

Family members describe Lowe as a doting father and brother who never missed his son's soccer games and used to love to dance.

He was the third of eight children and had been living with his mother after she lost both legs last year in an incident with Texas police, relatives said.

They said they never learned the details of the encounter, what city it happened in or what led to Lowe losing his legs.

He was scheduled to pick up his prostheses next Monday.

“I don't know how the police could make any excuse to feel threatened by a wheelchair-bound double amputee,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-LA.

"It's disgusting.

It just goes to show that it seems to be open season against blacks,” she lamented.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-02-02

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