Crump files public records lawsuit against Titusville PD in officer-involved shooting
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Family and attorneys of a Titusville man are looking for answers after he was killed by a police officer the day after Christmas last year.
Civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Natalie Jackson appeared outside the Titusville Courthouse on Palm Avenue Thursday morning to demand more information from Titusville Police Department on the shooting of 40-year-old James Lowery. They are now filing a public records lawsuit to obtain details on the case.
Family and friends held signs that read "Justice for James Lowery" and joined in chants calling for justice and transparency from the police.
The attorneys claimed an independent autopsy showed Lowery was shot in the back of the head, prompting questions about what exactly occurred leading up to his death. They also believe he was not the suspect in the crime police were called to investigate that night, and that his was a case of mistaken identity.
Titusville Police Department spokeswoman Amy Matthews has said investigative materials cannot be released while there is an ongoing investigation.
“The Titusville Police Department is not releasing any information in reference to our department’s ongoing investigation. Nothing is available at this time. No further information will be released until the investigation’s conclusion. At that time, the Titusville Police Department will be the law enforcement agency disseminating all releasable information," Matthews said in an emailed statement.
Chief John Lau said in a video statement Thursday that body camera footage—which has both video and audio—will be released once the investigation has concluded.
He also said that once all the evidence has been completely processed, the police department will be fully available to discuss the incident.
At Thursday's press conference—surrounded by family, friends and supporters of Lowery's—Natalie Jackson held up a heavily redacted police report where nearly every piece of information was blacked out and redacted as she demanded answers sooner.
Jackson said that, although police are allowed to hold back certain details of a case during an open criminal investigation, she had never before seen a report released with every relevant detail redacted.
"We've got 22 pages of blacked out text on every page," Jackson said. "Our only recourse now is to file a public records lawsuit. We're going to demand these answers."
The shooting took place just after 7 p.m. on Dec. 26 on the 1500 block of Gayle Avenue. Police were responding to a 911 call about a woman being beaten in the roadway by an unidentified man.
According to initial reports, a man took off from the scene and after a brief foot chase, the officer and the possible suspect got into a struggle in a nearby yard when the officer fired his weapon and killed the man.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement were notified in order to conduct an independent investigation. FDLE investigations into officer-involved shootings can often take months before findings are released.
The crux of the lawsuit rests on whether the police department is legally allowed to hold back information in the case pending an open investigation. In the complaint, attorneys state that the public records exception is meant to have a limited purpose and prevent premature disclosure of information when such disclosure could impede an ongoing investigation or allow a suspect to avoid apprehension or escape detection.
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Such conditions are not present in the shooting of Lowery, Jackson and Crump argued, and the records should be released.
"We have James Lowery's family here because they, like you, all are asking the question: Why would the police shoot an unarmed Black man in the back of the head?" Crump said to media and supporters. "The most cowardly thing you can do is shoot a person who's going away from you."
The small crowd broke out into a chant of "James Lowery's life matters" in support of the lawsuit.
"This mother couldn't even get the life insurance policy to bury her son because the city of Titusville is playing games after they shot him like a dog in the street," Crump said.
Johairi Brown described her younger brother as the glue that held the family together. Each day he would reach out to their network of extended family with simple affirmations or a "good morning" to maintain the bond between them.
"Our family is so devastated because we won't get those 'good morning' or 'good afternoon' texts. And in this world with so much going on, to get that, that is some kind of comfort. It is so much comfort and just to know I'm not going to receive that comfort anymore," Brown said through sobs.
"I never thought that my baby brother would leave the earth before me," Brown said as she broke down in tears.
In a video statement posted to YouTube Thursday after the press conference, Chief John Lau spoke on the incident:
"Our officers responded to multiple 911 calls about a woman being assaulted... One of the arriving officers encountered a man in the area... who matched the description given by our 911 callers."
"When our officer exited his patrol car, the suspect fled on foot. Our officer took chase, but the foot chase led to the suspect engaging in a physical altercation with our officer. The officer's firearm discharged, the suspect was struck and died as a result.
"We at the Titusville Police Department take all of our investigations seriously, but when an investigation involves a member of our team, it becomes all more important to conduct a complete and thorough investigation so that our community can maintain the trust in their police department. "
Lau went on to say he and his team met with Lowery's family after the shooting to reassure them that there would be a fair and thorough investigation into the shooting and that Florida Department of Law Enforcement was conducting its own investigation to maintain impartiality.
He said he told the family they would meet with them once the investigation was complete to make sure they had all the information before anything became public.
"Our citizens can be assured that all facts of this case will be published."
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-917-7491 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Crump files public records lawsuit against Titusville PD in officer-involved shooting
