The death of a double amputee wielding a large knife whom police shot in Huntington Park, California, has sparked a national outcry against the use of force against a disabled person.
Police say Anthony Lowe, a Black man who lost both his legs last year and had not yet received prosthetics, stabbed a person last Thursday before they used a stun gun and shot him about 10 times throughout his upper body.
Cellphone video shared on Twitter shows Lowe leaving the wheelchair behind and scrambling along the sidewalk, followed by officers with their guns drawn. The shooting is not seen in the video, which does not show what led to the encounter. Lowe’s family questioned why it was necessary to kill a man who needed a wheelchair to get around.
“He’s an amputee. He appears to be at a distinct physical disadvantage, lessening the apparent threat to officers,” said Ed Obayashi, a national policing expert specializing in use-of-force investigations, who has watched the video.
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Huntington Park police declined to comment on Lowe’s death or say what happened before the encounter because the shooting is under investigation.
