The death at the hands of the California police of an African-American, confined to a double amputation in a wheelchair, brandishing a meat cleaver, marks another chapter of police brutality in the United States.
This new scandal, which occurred in Huntington Park when Tire Nichols had not yet been buried in Memphis, has caused a new national scandal and protests against the excessive use of force, even directed at a disabled person.
A video, recorded with a mobile phone posted on social networks, shows that this man has no legs and how he jumps from his wheelchair and tries to get away from two agents. The uniforms go after Lowe, who appears to be carrying a knife. The two policemen draw their pistols, according to the recording, which emerges after the video in which the excessive violence that the Memphis police officers used with Nichols was certified.
Lowe, 36, who lost both legs in 2022 and lacked prostheses, is obscured in the image when the policemen open fire in his direction, but shots are heard. Right there the death of the “fugitive” was certified. There were at least ten shots.
Police argued that Lowe threatened to make advances on the officers and refused to hand over the knife. The Lowe family and local activist, who are calling for the officers to be charged, expressed their dismay that they did not understand how a disabled suspect posed enough of a threat to use deadly force against him.
The Lowe family questioned whether a man in a wheelchair needed to be killed. “We want to get to the truth and get justice because if someone else had shot Anthony, being such a handicapped person, that other person would be in jail for murder,” said Ebonique Simonn, Lowe’s mother. “It is not enough that they are suspended from employment and salary,” she added. Both are removed from service.
“How do you put the limitations of your mobility into words?” asked Cliff Smith, a grassroots community organizer. “The uniformed men had full physical capacity. It goes beyond the absurd to say that the agents were in danger, ”he stressed.
