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GUEST COMMENTARY - In today’s fast pace of reporting news old fashioned investigative reporting has fallen through the cracks.
This can be said with regards to most News Media outlets i.e., TV, Radio and Newspapers reporting on the news. Excuses after excuses, most surrounding time restraints, deadlines and who can get the news story out first even if they leave out all of the important elements of the story, the Who, What, When, Where and Why.
Most recently we have seen story after story surrounding the involvement of police officers in shooting incidents.
First, I want to commend the Memphis Police Department with their immediate release of the horrific videos which showed how several of their police officers assigned to a special unit used more than excessive force during a questionable traffic stop which led to the unlawful death of a black male individual named Tyre Nichols.
Let’s take a good look at the news reporting surrounding two recent incidents which involved two separate police agencies within Los Angeles County; one is the Los Angeles Police Department and the other is the Huntington Park Police Department.
On Janurary 3rd a male identified as Keenan Anderson was involved in a multi-car accident and fled from the location of the accident (of which he was at fault). According to Chief Moore, he tried to carjack a vehicle. Both the Hit and Run and attempted carjacking are classified as Felonies. Victims and witnesses then called LAPD for assistance. A motorcycle police officer was observed communicating with Anderson. Initially, Anderson appeared to cooperate with the instructions of the motor officer, but when other police officers arrived Anderson again attempted to flee from the location. As viewed on video, police officers had to subdue Anderson when he refused to follow the police officers’ commands. The officers subsequently tased Anderson several times to gain compliance. LA Fire Paramedics responded, and Anderson was transported to a local hospital. Anderson subsequently died. The cause of death has not yet been determined. What we do know is that Anderson was found to have Cocaine in his system.
Anderson's cousin Patrisse Cullors is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter stated, as they do with every encounter when a black male dies as a result of police contact, that the individual was Murdered by police. Cullors came out and stated that her cousin was murdered by LAPD.
Even before Anderson's Postmortem and complete Toxicology tests are completed, Anderson's family members had already announced that a civil wrongful Death law suit naming LAPD is forthcoming.
Black Lives Matter are also calling for a new policy which states that LAPD should not respond to traffic accidents. A new policy was put into place some time back which states that LAPD will not respond to traffic collisions if there are no parties injured as a result of the traffic accident.
With regards to Anderson, he was fleeing from a multi car collision of which he was the responsible party. This would be a Vehicle Hit and Run, a violation of the California Penal Code.
Now Anderson's attorneys are stating that Anderson was undergoing a Mental Health Issue. Here are the questions local news should have asked. Did Anderson have a history of Mental Health Issues? If yes. How was he able to teach High School 10th Grade students? Did he notify the High School that he had a history of Mental Health issues. How long had he been abusing the illegal drug Cocaine? Was he addicted to Cocaine? Was he attending a substance abuse program?
These are all questions which our local news media should have asked before writing their news stories.
My advice to those individuals whose vehicles were damaged by the Auto accident caused by Anderson is to join together and obtain an attorney and then sue the estate of Anderson so that they can be reimbursed for emotional stress and for the damages to their vehicles.
On January 26th a male individual identified as Ramiro was walking down a street in Huntington Park when without provocation a male individual, Anthony Lowe, a double amputee, got off his wheelchair and hobbled up to Ramiro and stabbed him with a long-bladed butcher knife. Ramiro fell to the ground. Passersby assisted Ramiro by placing pressure on the massive chest wound and then called 911. Huntington Park Police responded and also applied pressure to the open wound area. Ramiro was transported to a local hospital where he underwent a lifesaving operation. The stab wound inflicted by Lowe came close to puncturing Ramiro’s heart. It was a miracle that Ramiro survived.
This was an outright case of Attempted Murder 664/187 of the California Penal Code.
The responding police officers were provided with a physical description of the suspect and including the information that he fled from the scene in a wheelchair.
Police officers spotted the suspect and made attempts to stop him by tasing the suspect. This was unsuccessful. When Lowe raised the knife facing the police officers, the officers fired resulting in his death.
As with the Anderson case, Lowe’s immediate family members held rallies in front of the Huntington Park Police Station and made statements that Lowe was murdered by Police. At no time have the family members mentioned the fact that just prior to the confrontation between Lowe and the police he attempted to kill an innocent person.
The Lowe family has not made any comments regarding the attack by Anthony Lowe on Ramiro; the unprovoked attempted murder of a complete stranger.
As with Anderson even before the postmortem or the results of toxicology reports, the family has an attorney and has stated their intent to file a wrongful death lawsuit naming the City of Huntington Park and their police agency.
The family stated that when Lowe left home earlier on the date of the incident, he was feeling depressed because of being a double amputee.
The family also stated that Lowe had some type of altercation with an unnamed police agency in Texas, which resulted in the amputation of his two lower limbs. The family, as per news accounts, did not know where in Texas this took place; How, why, when, or the name of the police agency.
Now the family states that Lowe has a history of mental health issues.
Haven't we all been depressed in our lives at one time or another? Is that considered to be a form of mental illness? Was Lowe being treated for Mental Health issues?
There has been only one local news media that has put forth all of the information on this matter in search of the whole truth and that is KTTV 11.
The innocent victim here is the father of 4 named Ramiro. I suggest that he obtain an attorney and file a lawsuit naming the estate of Anthony Lowe.
Here are links to videos of three very recent incidents
Additional Footage of Anderson Death
Victim Statement of Man Stabbed By Lowe
(Caroline Aguirre is a retired 24-year State of California law enforcement officer, LAPD family member, community activist and Neighborhood Watch captain. Aguirre is a CityWatch contributor. The opinions expressed by Caroline Aguirre do not reflect those of CityWatch.)
