Two police officers approached Anthony Lowe, a double amputee who used a wheelchair, on a sidewalk in Huntington Park, California, on January 26 as a possible suspect in a stabbing.
Lowe, whose lower legs had been amputated, is seen in a phone video shared on social media getting out of a wheelchair and attempting to flee from the two armed officers. The police pursue Lowe as he appears to be carrying a long knife.
The two officers then draw their guns, video shows. Lowe is obscured in the video when the police fire in his direction, but several gunshots can be heard. Lowe, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Huntington Park Police Department said in a statement Monday.
The Huntington Park police statement said Lowe “threatened to advance or throw the knife at the officers.” Lowe’s family and local activists, who are calling for the prosecution of the officers who shot Lowe, cannot understand how a disabled suspect posed enough of a threat to warrant lethal force.
“How do you need to put into words the limitations on his physical mobility?” said Cliff Smith, an organizer with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Community Control Over the Police. “The officers are in their full capacity. It’s beyond absurd to say that the officers are in any risk.”
Lowe’s sister Yatoya Toy claimed that her brother was a “mama’s boy” and was the favorite uncle of his nieces and nephews. He enjoyed dancing, watching football, and supporting his son and daughter during sporting events. Several Lowe family members demanded justice during a news conference on Monday. This week, the family plans to file a wrongful death case.
At the press conference, Dorothy Lowe stated, “My son was murdered.”
The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, according to a statement from Huntington Park police, which is investigating the Homicide Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The city of Huntington Park was contacted for comment by the police department. Officials from the city didn’t reply.
According to Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Huntington Park police were called to a man’s stabbing claim at about 3:40 on Thursday. According to authorities, the man, who was in the hospital in critical condition as of Monday, gave police a description of the individual he said had stabbed him. According to the police, Lowe fit that description.
When police tried to take Lowe into custody, he was in a wheelchair on a sidewalk, according to Reynaga. As the officers approach him, Lowe tries to pull his wheelchair along in bystander footage broadcast on Twitter and TikTok before giving up and stumbling away.
The officers used two Tasers to tackle Lowe, but they were “ineffective,” according to a statement from the Huntington Park police.
According to the bystander video, one officer seemed to drop a weapon they were holding and pull another one out of their holster while aiming at Lowe. Then a third officer is seen approaching the scene in a police cruiser, exiting, and pulling a gun. Then, a series of gunshots are heard quickly.
When they start shooting, the officers seem to be positioned some distance from Lowe. No conversation between Lowe and the officers is heard in the footage.
The officers fired about 10 shots at Lowe, Reynaga said. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office reported that Lowe died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Reynaga, who is participating in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation into the shooting, claimed that investigators had examined additional security footage of the incident. He stated that the Huntington Park Police Department would choose to disclose the tape. Reynaga noted that the police officers in Huntington Park do not wear body cameras.
Lowe’s sister Toy questioned the lack of body cams on Huntington Park police officers. According to Smith, a protest against the shooting will be held on Sunday by the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police.
Smith questioned why the officers chose to kill a crippled man.
#California double amputee fatally shot by cops. Officers fired roughly 10 rounds at Anthony Lowe Jr. a 36 y/o father of two which say he lost both legs last year in another encounter with police in #Texas. pic.twitter.com/IjgewR4x9P
— Joshua Rodriguez (@Joshuajered) February 1, 2023
“He can’t do anything or go anywhere,” Smith said. “It’s frustrating even to try to capture this in words. I mean, it’s so evident.
“What kind of mind-set do these officers have to determine that this is the correct course of action?” he added.
After losing both of his lower legs in an accident a few months ago, Lowe has been gradually recovering, according to Toy. According to her, he had been fitted for prosthetic legs a few weeks before his passing, and they were scheduled to be delivered on Monday.
Lowe’s family is still processing his passing. He wasn’t present when the family gathered to watch football on Sunday because “you know he’d be talking garbage about the 49ers,” according to Toy, and he wasn’t present for his son’s first game as a varsity player. Toy said it didn’t surprise her to be in mourning so quickly after Tyre Nichols‘ death was made public and another national conversation about police brutality sparked.
“When I see the mothers crying, I don’t feel like, ‘Oh, that could never be me,’” Toy said. “To be honest with you, the more I see it, the closer to home it was getting for me … I got a 22-year-old son of my own. I’m terrified for him. And I saw my brother. He looked like he was terrified when he was running.”
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