A double-amputee is dead and a family claims the police used excessive force

The Huntington Park double-amputee black hole killed in the chest with a butcher knife in the early stages of a shooting

Videos purportedly capturing the moments before the shooting death of a double-amputee man confined to a wheelchair are raising questions about whether police used excessive force in the Southern California city of Huntington Park.

The department said in a statement Monday that officers responded to a report of a stabbing on Thursday. Responding officers found a victim suffering from “a life-threatening stab wound resulting in a collapsed lung and internal bleeding,” the statement said.

The victim said that the attacker was black and that he ran to the victim without provocation and stabbed him in the chest with a butcher knife.

The police found the suspect a few blocks away with a butcher knife. The suspect allegedly ignored officer commands and threatened to “advance or throw the knife,” and officers used two separate Tasers to try and subdue the suspect but failed, HPPD said.

The suspect was struck by gunfire in the upper torso and was pronounced dead on scene, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in an initial statement.

The involved officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending ongoing investigations from HPPD, the sheriff’s department’s Homicide Bureau and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, HPPD said.

Family members of the man who died identified him at a news conference as Anthony Lowe, despite authorities not naming him.

In one video, two uniformed officers are seen pointing their guns at Lowe. Lowe then appears to move himself in the opposite direction, holding something shiny in his hands, while an officer walks behind him. A police car then obscures the view. Another video from a different view shows the moment when officers appear to open fire.

“The way they killed my son, they murdered my son in a wheelchair with no legs,” Dorothy Lowe, Anthony Lowe’s mother, said at a news conference Monday. They need to do something about that because I want justice for my son.

“There can be no justification for killing Anthony, and we’re here to stand with his family and his community to fight for justice for Anthony,” said Cliff Smith, an organizer with the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/us/california-double-amputee-anthony-lowe-killed-by-police/index.html

On the Attorney General’s Failure to Report Officer-Involved Shootings in Los Angeles, citing the Case of Christopher Samayoa

Ebonique Simon, mother of one of Lowes children, told CNN that Lowe was a kind, caring father who loved to dance and was funny. He had been “dealing with a lot of depression” over the loss of his legs in an incident around a year ago, she said.

Under California law, the Attorney General is required to independently review officer-involved shooting in the state, but it is not doing so at this time.

“We know that the Black community in Los Angeles is reeling and searching for answers. Los Angeles County deserves to know how and why the incidents have occurred, as nothing can heal the trauma the community is experiencing.

The District Attorney is threatening to drop the case that was filed against a police officer for an on-duty death, due to her predecessor’s political reasons.

The decision to dismiss this case was made by BrookeJenkins, who was more interested in protecting police officers than in seeking justice for citizens of San Francisco. It is a horrible decision. The Attorney General has a duty to investigate and take up the case of Christopher Samayoa for the murder of July O’Neil, according to Brian Ford, the attorney for April Green.

The case was referred to the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta, because of internal conflicts within the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.

“In support of the family’s wishes, we have asked the California Attorney General’s Office to independently review this case because of the conflicts and issues that have arisen and we will assist their office in any way that we can,” Jenkins said in a statement to CNN.

The letter from Jenkins to Bonta expands on what she says was the perceived motivation of the initial case filing, which was spearheaded by her predecessor Chesa Boudin, who was recalled in 2022.

According to Boudin, Jenkins is trying to divert attention from the fact that she doesn’t care about those who have been injured in the line of duty, and that she is deeply politically motivated.