Family of double amputee shot dead by California police to file lawsuit

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - The family of a double amputee who was shot and killed by police in southern Los Angeles County last week will file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the California police department responsible, reported local media.

Anthony Lowe, 36, was fatally shot by Huntington Park Police officers on Jan. 26 while he was in his wheelchair. The police said Lowe had threatened police officers after stabbing a man, but his family has disputed that claim.

In a statement to the press, the family of Lowe and attorney Christian Contreras demanded the release of video of the shooting. Contreras said that investigators had refused to release surveillance video from a local business.

"Let's call it what it is, it's a straight murder," local KABC TV quoted Contreras as saying. “A disabled man, double amputee, murdered by Huntington Park Police Department officers,” he stressed.

Ebonique Simon, the mother of Lowe’s son, said that Lowe “was in fear for his life,” referring to video footage that captured moments before the shooting.

In a written explanation, the Huntington Park Police Department said that Lowe had refused to drop a butcher’s knife and then police used a taser on him, but to no effect. After Lowe’s attempt to throw the knife at an officer, they show approximately 10 rounds at him.

Simon told British daily The Guardian: “This could have been handled in any other way. But they chose gunfire as the resolution to the problem. That is insane.”