California police kill an African-American amputee
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US police are pursuing new charges of using excessive force after the death of an African-American amputee in California who was killed by police in Huntington Park as they intervened to stop a knife attack.
Various videos of the attempted arrest of Anthony Lowe sparked controversy on Wednesday.
Pictures taken by passers-by showed the 36-year-old leaving his wheelchair to try to run on what was left of his legs, while a number of policemen pointed their weapons at him.
The footage did not clearly show what happened next, but it was proven that the police officers shot Lowe, which led to his death.
The arrest attempt was made last Thursday, but the videos appeared only recently amid controversy after another black man, Tyree Nichols, was severely beaten by Memphis police in early January in the southern United States.
Nichols, 29, died on January 10, three days after he was beaten by several policemen.
Five police officers were dismissed and charged with murder in this case.
According to the Huntington Park police, a small city located in the suburb of Los Angeles, its officers intervened during a knife attack by a man in a wheelchair.
The police statement, which was reported by several American media, added that the suspect, who was in possession of a 30-centimeter long knife, ignored police orders to drop it.
The police explained that the officers used a stun gun twice without being able to subdue him.
"The suspect continued to threaten the officers with a butcher's knife, which led to him being shot by a policeman," the police said in a statement, without specifying the number of policemen who opened fire.
Available video clips show Anthony Lowe holding an object resembling a knife.
In the photos, he was seen walking away from the police rather than walking towards them.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department in charge of the investigation, two officers opened fire about 10 times at Lowe, who was shot in the chest and died instantly.
And his family explained in a press conference on Monday that he was suffering from mental disorders.
His relatives did not respond to accusations that he had stabbed another person.
"They killed my son, they killed him while he was in a wheelchair, without his legs," said his mother, Dorothy Lowe.
"So they have to do something, because I want justice for my son," she added.
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