LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Police Department has shared video of the death in custody of a person who was being held by a member of the community on suspicion of burglary.
At 3:40 p.m. on July 6, 2024, a man’s wife called 911 to say that a person on the loose had tried to break into their apartment in the 200 block of South Rampart Avenue.
Anthony Sowell, the suspect, is being chased and held down by a citizen, as seen on live video. The person from the community, who was not named, fought with Sowell and then laid on top of him to hold him down until Sowell looked like he was asleep. He held him down for about five minutes and even punched him once while Sowell looked like he was out.
Then, other people in the community came up to them and briefly talked to the person who was holding Sowell.
Soon after, police arrived and put handcuffs on Sowell, but he still looked like he wasn’t awake.
Officers thought Sowell had overdosed on drugs, so they called for an ambulance and gave him Narcan. Then they took his hands off of him and started CPR. When the Los Angeles Fire Department came, they pronounced Sowell dead at the scene.
After the report was finished, it was sent to the DA’s office. But on December 30, the DA’s office decided not to file a single count of attempted murder against the person who held Sowell.
The police department said that the case was finally labelled as a justified murder.
“On Dec. 30, 2024, the District Attorney’s Office determined the evidence would not warrant conviction by a reasonable and objective fact finder after reviewing all the evidence available to the deputy at the time of charging, including the Medical Examiner’s report, and after considering the most plausible, reasonably foreseeable defences inherent in the prosecution’s evidence.”
On July 10, a probe into a murder began. On August 28, homicide agents met with people from the District Attorney’s Office to make their case for filing charges against the person in the community who detained Sowell. The DA’s office told them that a choice about filing could not be made until the autopsy report was finished.
A week later, the Medical Examiner-Coroner found that Sowell had died from Traumatic Asphyxia, which was caused in part by methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaethylene, ethanol, and a condition called Hyperteophic Heart Condition.
