In an attempt to refute the police’s version of events, the family of a Kansas man who was shot dead by Topeka police in 2022 revealed body camera footage of the encounter on Friday.
As part of a wrongful death case filed in August, a federal magistrate judge ordered the city to turn over the tape, which Taylor Lowery’s family was able to receive. Five officers fired their rifles 34 times, killing Lowery, 33, at the scene.
According to human rights attorney and family advocate LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, the family has been fighting for transparency for more than two years in order to dispel the myth that Taylor was killed when he fled at the police with a knife.
In the lawsuit, Da Mabrius Duncan, the mother of Lowery’s only child and an administrator for his estate, accused Topeka police of failing to adequately train its officers on de-escalation techniques and preventative measures against the possibility of excessive force. According to the lawsuit, one of the officers who took part in the shooting was undergoing such training.
Following the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office’s announcement that there would be no criminal charges in Lowery’s death and that the use of force by each of the five named officers was reasonable and legal, the lawsuit sought the release of the bodycam videos, which the city refused to do in early 2023.
During investigations, government agencies are permitted to keep police bodycam footage private under the Kansas Open Records Act. Nonetheless, an organization may consent to allow specific interested persons, such a family or attorney, to access the video and may impose viewing costs.
The city claimed that a protection order should keep the tapes private, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Angel Mitchell rejected this claim in December and decided in favor of the family’s request to receive the videos.
According to Mitchell, courts typically do not include officer bodycam footage in protective orders because of the public’s great desire for public incident openness.
In the weeks following the shooting, Saunders was first given access to the bodycam footage with Ducan. However, as part of their lawsuit’s discovery procedure, the family has requested a copy of the films.
Although officials can refuse to release bodycam footage on the grounds that there is no public interest, Mitchell’s decision is noteworthy since it forced a local government to give the footage to a family, according to Max Kautsch, a Lawrence, Kansas, First Amendment attorney.
According to Kautsch, it’s a remarkable application of litigation tactics to address the shortcomings of the Kansas Open Records Act.
He went on to say that simply viewing bodycam footage is useless. In a court of public opinion or anywhere else, the film itself is what makes the case, so you must watch it.
In a news release after the shooting, the Kansas Bureau of Investigations claimed that Lowery had approached officers with a knife. According to the bodycam footage that the family was able to obtain, Lowery was stooping to pick up a wrench when he was shot in the parking lot of a Kwik Shop gas station, and the knife was out of his reach somewhere on the ground.
The Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office withheld the names of the officers involved in the shooting in its report, but the judge’s order allowed the family’s attorneys to ascertain their identities.
The city of Topeka stated that law enforcement personnel risk their lives and mental health every day to ensure the safety and protection of our community, but declined to comment on the suit’s allegations, citing ongoing legal proceedings. We shall keep up our strong defense of our personnel in this case.
The city acknowledged that the knife was still on the ground close to Lowery after the first round of bullets, but denied that the cops were unreasonable in the shooting in response to the family’s updated case that was submitted to the court last month. It also asserted that until deadly force was applied, none of the defendants noticed the knife.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on when police use force is justified. The justices considered whether using deadly force can be justified when officers are threatened or if the circumstances surrounding the officers’ actions must also be taken into account.
In Lowery’s case, the bodycam footage shows a tumultuous sequence of events that began in a house he lived with his sister and ended at the convenience store parking lot where he was shot. The footage spans six minutes.
According to the family’s updated lawsuit, police were called at around 12:30 a.m. after Lowery’s sister, who was locked in a room, informed a 911 dispatcher that he had taken a drug and was acting strangely, and that he was trying to pick a lock with a knife to get her car keys.
One officer’s bodycam footage shows a voice instructing them to kick down the door. After a while, a young person opens the door and is unable to inform the police of what is happening inside, but the officers witness Lowery come out.
Lowery was trying to escape the house through a back door at the time, according to the authorities.
According to the district attorney’s report, Lowery halted outside and began wielding the knife in what was referred to as a fighting stance when the cops came up to him. In his other hand, he was holding something else that was later discovered to be a socket wrench.
According to the family’s lawsuit, the police did not feel the need to use their weapons because Lowery was not acting aggressively or threateningly toward them during the encounter at the house.
An officer’s bodycam footage shows Lowery disobeying multiple commands to drop the weapon. Before the woman leaves the house through a different entrance and yells hysterically that her children are inside, he returns inside and closes the door. Lowery is seen exiting the house with the knife in his hands as the officers enter.
Police said that Lowery drove from the property in an SUV and was chased by them to the Kwik Shop gas station, which was half a mile away. He tried to carjack an inhabited vehicle, according to the police.
However, according to the report from the district attorney’s office, the incident happened in a blind zone of the convenience store’s outdoor cameras.
The police bodycam footage depicts a chaotic scene shortly prior to the shooting, with several cops already there and more on the way.
Officers told Lowery to get down, leaving the knife and wrench he had been holding on the ground. In one of the recordings, a cop appears to push him. Then Lowery spins around and stoops to pick up the wrench at his feet. Then an officer starts shooting at Lowery, and other people start shooting too, knocking Lowery to the ground.
He lies on the ground, bleeding, and they tell him to stay down and put his hands out.
One of them is heard stating, “We need you to put your hands out and let go of that wrench.” The cops handcuff Lowery, who is lying face down and no longer seems to be moving.
According to the district attorney’s office, Lowery’s autopsy revealed that he had been under the influence of cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamine when he passed away.
According to the office’s investigation, Lowery was hit by several bullets, but the most serious wounds were three to the chest and three to the abdomen.
According to the family’s lawsuit, officers had pepper spray and Tasers on hand but never tried to use them, and they were not required to fire their weapons first.