By james art 
Topeka – The recently discovered videos show that Topeka’s police fired and killed a black man in 2022 after he raised a wrench and pulled away from the officers at a gas station parking, contrary to the story used to justify the officers’ actions.
The Topeka Police Department, the Kansas Investigation Bureau and the District Prosecutor of Shawney County Mike Kagai issued public statements that claim that police were killed by Taylor Lowry when he was progressing with a knife.
Da’mabrius Duncan, like the mother of Lowi’s child and the administrator of his mansion, brought a case of unlawful death in August and amended him this month to name Topeca Malcolm Gillum, Justin Goody and Bradley Empite, SGT. Scott Macentier, Detective Alex Wall and Topeka as defendants. Laronna Lassiter Saunders, a lawyer and advocate for the family, provided videos of Officer Body cameras to the Kansas reflector at the request of the family after a federal magistrate rejected the city’s arguments to keep the videos confidential.
Videos show good in response to a home disorder at the Laurie Residence at 12:38 pm October 13, 2022. When a good and another officer collides with Laurie holding a butcher knife, Lowry runs away from the police, enters the SUV and drives to drive to the nearby Kwik Shop gas station. Good signals are sent for an aggravated attack on a law enforcement officer. The video does not show an attack.
Lowi went to a KWIK shop half -mile from her house with MCentire and Wall in pursuit. According to the amended complaint, which is partly based on an undisclosed video of observation, Lowi approaches another vehicle in the parking lot as he holds a knife and a nest. Wall signals send for theft.
MCENTIR and WALL, which did not carry body cameras, get out of their car with pulled rifles and firing at Lowi as he runs away from them, the amended complaint said. Lowi is not hit by the shooting, but he falls both the knife and a wrench like a good, Gillum and Neetherton arrive.
The cameras worn by Good, Gillum and Netherton show MCENTIRE, pushing Lowi, which reaches down to take the wrench. While Lowry takes a step back with the wrench in his hand, the officers shoot at it 34 times.
Video from bodily chambers worn by Topeka’s policemen Justin Good, Malcolm Gillum and Bradley Netheron show good in response to a home summons for a residence, employees killing Taylor Lowi in a gas station park, and police action after the shooting.
Autopsy report documents 41 bullets wounds, including cases where a bullet caused multiple injuries.
Moments after the shooting is over, the officers tell Lowi, who is stationary on the ground, they will provide medical help if he releases the wrench. Videos capture conversations among officers who make it aware that they know that he is holding a wrench when they kill him.
The Topeka Police Department and the Kansas Investigation Bureau issued news publications on the day of the shooting, which says Lowi threatens the staff with a knife.
The officers “gave repeated commands to release the knife,” KBI spokesman Melissa Underwood wrote in a news message. “Then Lowi advanced to the knife officers.”
Videos do not support Underwood’s Underwood message.
“In officers’ firing investigations, we strive to provide as much information to the public as quickly as possible,” Underwood said in response to questions about this story. “Transparent, providing preliminary details based on eyewitness statements is not” pressing a fake story “, even if after the full investigation has been completed, there are additional or different facts.”
KBI is investigating the murder, with the future KBI director Tony Mativti served as a Gillum legal counsel as agents questioned the employee. KBI has completed its investigation and presented the file of the Kagai case, the District Prosecutor, on November 16, a month before the Prosecutor General Chris Kobach announced that he would nominate Mativti to lead KBI.
Kagai prepared a report that cleared the employees in January 2023. The Kagai report stressed that the police were shooting for the first time while he was holding a knife before the three officers who carried cameras.
But the videos show that Lowry was not shot before raising the wrench.
The Kagai report says “it is objectively reasonable that the officers are the wrong wrench for the knife” when they killed him.
Kagai, answering questions about this story, stated that his report “was a thorough and accurate summary of the investigative file.” He said the statements of civil witnesses who were not publicly available, confirmed the story in his report.
Lauren Bonds, Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project, said that law enforcement agencies are culturally predisposed to creating a story that justifies the shooting and that “it is disappointing that the district prosecutor in this situation is trying to justify the sieve with the fake police A story. “
Bonds refer to high -ranking tires of tire Nichols in 2023 in Tennessee, George Floyd in 2020 in Minnesota and Walter Scot In the video.
“You have so many examples that these discrepancies are coming out or lies coming out around police murder, why would you expect the community to trust something that the police say that when there is an officer -linked shooting?”
Duncan, the administrator of the Lowi mansion, said in an interview that it is important for the public to see the video of Lowi’s death and know the truth.
Duncan said she had asked the Topeka police station for a meeting after the shooting, but the department refused to meet her. If she could talk to the officers who killed Lowi, she said she would ask them many questions that start with, “Why?”
“Why didn’t they do better than the situation than they did?” She said. “Just why? Why are they lying? Why did they use my child’s father as a target practice? Why should I trust you guys when you can’t even tell the truth? “
“There were situations where we had to call the police, but you know, I just don’t believe them,” Duncan added. “I don’t see them the same. I don’t feel like I’m protected. “
Rosie Nichols, a spokesman for Topeka, declined to answer questions about this story, including a question about refusing to meet Duncan. Nichols said the city would respond to the claims “through the right legal process, not through the media.”
“Law enforcement officers are confronted with dangerous and unpredictable situations every day, risking their lives and mental well -being to ensure safety and protection for our community,” Nichols said. “We will continue to vigorously defend our officers on this.”
The release of a police video of officers related to officers is rare in Kansas. The agencies routinely cite exceptions to the Kansas Open Records Act to deny the video release.
Duncan’s lawyers have filed for video and other records at the Kansas Investigation Bureau, which refused the request. KBI’s response states that records are considered part of a criminal investigation.
Topeca City Lawyer Amanda Stanley declined to request open records for the video from the Kansas reflector. She claims that playing videos will stuff a jurors’ pool and prevent employees from receiving a fair trial.
“It would be incorrect and potentially unethical to release the videos that can be used in a way that would undermine the legitimacy of the case through a court case in the court of public opinion,” Stanley wrote.
American magistrate Judge Angel Mitchell has already rejected an almost identical argument from the city in the court dispute that Stanley refers to.
After Duncan brought the federal case, the city was required to overturn evidence through a legal process known as a “discovery”. This evidence is often held under a protective order, which means that lawyers cannot share public files. But Duncan’s attorneys at Denning’s Law Firm at Overland Park asked the court permission to make the videos public.
The city claims that the police video should be kept secret as the plaintiffs intend to use the video to “publicly refute” the report of the district prosecutor who dismisses employees.
The magistrate refers to arguments made by lawyer William Denning in a December decision allowing the release of a police video: “The plaintiffs say that their lawyer” does not intend to argue this issue in the court of public opinion. ” And yet they insist, [sic] Hands with a protective order, covering many sources of information that were used for publicly blamed defendants. “
Mitchell has determined that the city and police officers cannot show how they will be hurt by the video. The only concern that the judge acknowledged was the need to protect contact information and date of births for witnesses interviewed on a camera and exclude images of minors.
“The defendants do not explain their theory that the release of any other part of the frames can downplay the jury pool,” Mitchell wrote. “In other words, the defendants do not say what, if any, other parts of the video footage could make the jurors look at them in a negative light. In addition, as far as staffing are considered, courts tend to exclude such footage from protective orders based on the public interest of the public in the transparency of public incidents. “
Videos capture the five -minute period between a good knock on Lowi’s door and the moment police kill him outside the KWIK store, as well as discussion among the officers after the shooting.
When the shooting is over, the officers call Lowi to “take off their hands” as he bleeds on the ground.
“We need you to expose your hands and release this wrench and then we can help you,” the officer calls two minutes after the shooting, as Lowry lies still. “We want to help you, but you have to drop the wrench and do what we say.”
One of the officers says, “We have numbers. He has a wrench. “
Three minutes after the shooting, the commander gives orders to others who are about to approach Lowi.
“He has an object in his hand. It looks like a wrench, doesn’t it? “The officer says.” We will get control over him. If he does something but does not take into account, we will light him with Taser. Do you understand? “
Four officers then approach Lowi, three with pulled weapons and one that leads a dog. One of them kicked the wrench of Lowi’s still hand.
Employees provide medical attention about five minutes after the shooting.
An officer approaches Netheron and asks, “What is the fast skinny?”
“Honestly I don’t know,” Netheron says. “They said he accumulates people when I pulled out. He began attacking Scottie Mack. We’re there. “