Ronald Lowery

Deadly force

Lowery, with a long record of minor crimes, was shot to death by local police after leading them on an erratic chase in a stolen car, then switching over to a van with a female acquaintance and a 16-year-old girl. Police fired on him 30 times. They claimed that Lowery fired on them twice with a shotgun then used the van as a weapon, claims that witnesses disputed. City prosecutors mulled criminal charges against the police for more than a year before ruling them justified. In the interim two of them were awarded Silver Medals of Valor and three others Certificates of Merit for their roles in the killing.