Citing inadequate proof, the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace mentioned it might not file prices in opposition to two Huntington Park law enforcement officials within the 2023 deadly taking pictures of Anthony Lowe, a double amputee who was making an attempt to flee police whereas holding a long-bladed knife.
Prosecutors introduced the choice Tuesday afternoon, releasing a report that cleared the officers concerned of wrongdoing once they opened fireplace.
The report mentioned the officers, Paul Munoz and Joshua Volasgis, had been pressured to make a split-second resolution when confronted by Lowe, an armed suspect who had simply stabbed somebody.
“What transpired on this incident was a tragic collection of occasions put in movement by Lowe and his harmful and violent actions,” the D.A.’s report mentioned. “The very fact the officers’ actions had been taken in opposition to a probably suicidal one that was experiencing a psychological break and suffered bodily limitations does little to assuage the emotional response to such a tragedy.”
In an accompanying video clarification, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman referred to as scrutinizing using lethal power by police “one of the crucial difficult, vital and delicate tasks our workplace undertakes,” however mentioned that finally he didn’t imagine prosecutors may show prices in opposition to the officers at trial.
Lawyer Christian Contreras, who filed a wrongful dying lawsuit on behalf of Lowe’s household, mentioned his purchasers had been holding out hope that the officers could be criminally charged. He famous the D.A.’s resolution to drop prices in one other controversial policing killing — the 2023 taking pictures dying of Christopher Deandre Mitchell — and questioned how severe Hochman is about holding officers accountable.
Minutes earlier than the January 2023 taking pictures, prosecutors mentioned that Lowe, 36, lunged from his wheelchair and stabbed a person within the chest within the 1900 block of Slauson Avenue. The sufferer, who suffered a collapsed lung and two damaged ribs, was captured on a surveillance digital camera staggering away, whereas Lowe waited on the nook for a couple of seconds earlier than crossing the road.
Footage launched by Huntington Park police confirmed three officers — Munoz, Volasgis and Freddy Ramirez — arriving on the scene and approaching Lowe as he tried to wheel away. Volasgis holstered his gun and grabbed Lowe’s wheelchair, dumping him onto the bottom. As he tumbled to the pavement, a knife he was concealing fell and landed close by.
Emails looking for remark from Volasgis and Munoz weren’t instantly answered on Tuesday.
Lowe picked up the knife and commenced hobbling away on his knees as officers skilled their weapons at him. The video confirmed Lowe swinging the knife above his head at one level. Nearly concurrently Ramirez deployed his Taser, whereas Munoz and Volasgis opened fireplace with their service weapons.
After the taking pictures, in line with the D.A.’s report, Volasgis informed investigators he feared for his life and that of his police colleagues, drawing on his prior coaching {that a} knife could be thrown 10-15 toes away.
An post-mortem discovered that Lowe was struck by eight of the 11 rounds fired. It additionally revealed small traces of methamphetamine in his bloodstream.
Not one of the officers concerned had physique cameras, and their police squads weren’t geared up with dashboard cameras. The incident was captured in grainy element on a safety digital camera from a close-by medical clinic.
The wrongful dying swimsuit filed by Lowe’s household — considered one of a number of authorized challenges prompted by the incident — claimed he was having a psychological well being disaster and had been dealing with the latest amputations of each of his legs.
Lowe was on parole after serving an 18-year state jail sentence for a collection of crimes, together with a “gang-related theft,” the D.A.’s workplace mentioned. After shifting in with an aunt in Texas, Lowe misplaced his legs following an incident wherein he jumped off a freeway overpass whereas being pursued by regulation enforcement officers.
He ultimately returned to L.A. to reside together with his mom; LAPD officers responded to her dwelling no less than twice in reference to psychological health-related emergencies, the D.A.’s workplace mentioned.
Contreras, the Lowe household’s lawyer, mentioned the lawsuit over the taking pictures had been settled however mentioned he was unable to enter particulars as a result of the settlement hadn’t been finalized.
In a press release, Huntington police Chief Cosme Lozano mentioned the D.A.’s resolution mirrored “a radical and unbiased analysis of the info, proof, and relevant regulation.”
“As with all officer-involved incidents, this matter was topic to an exterior assessment course of, and we acknowledge the significance of that course of in making certain accountability and adherence to the rule of regulation,” the assertion learn.
Volasgis had beforehand been concerned in different controversial use-of-force incidents.
A former U.S. Marine, he started his profession with the LAPD and was one of many officers current on the deadly taking pictures of Charly “Africa” Keunang in 2015.
The killing of Keunang, who was homeless, set off days of protests and prompted fierce criticism of how police take care of Skid Row residents combating psychological sickness.
Volasgis was not one of many officers who fired, however was named in a lawsuit introduced by Keunang’s household. The next yr, Volasgis resigned from the LAPD.
LAPD officers advisable his termination after an investigation discovered he used extreme power when he threw a handcuffed shoplifting suspect out of the backseat of his police squad automotive, in line with an Inner Affairs grievance reviewed by The Occasions.
Volasgis was fired in 2017 from the West Covina Police Division after one other extreme power allegation when he punched a suspect within the head after responding to a housebreaking name, in line with filings in a racial discrimination lawsuit he later filed in opposition to town.
The swimsuit alleged that he had been subjected to racial harassment by his colleagues, a few of whom mocked him for being Black and addressed him in “slave-era dialect.”
A message looking for touch upon the swimsuit’s consequence was not instantly returned.
