The family of a man shot to death last week by an Austin Police detective has hired a high-profile attorney. The family of 32-year-old Larry Eugene Jackson, Jr. has hired Adam Loewy, who has represented three families of men killed by APD officers’ gunfire.
“I’ve handled several of these police shootings and I’m very selective in the cases that I take, and this one strikes me as being very suspicious," Loewy said.
"I don’t understand how an unarmed man was shot in the back of the head under these facts," he said. "We are going to conduct our own investigation into the shooting and then we will proceed with legal action if we feel it’s necessary.”
In other shooting-death cases involving Austin Police officers, Loewy has obtained monetary settlements from the City of Austin twice. The family of 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders settled with the city of Austin for $750,000. The city also paid $1 million to the family of Kevin Brown.
In a third case, the shooting of 20-year-old Byron Carter, a federal jury cleared APD officer Nathan Wagner.
Jackson was killed on Friday by APD detective Charles Kleinert. Police say Kleinert will start answering questions by city investigators as soon as Thursday.
In the meantime, several organizations, including the NAACP, Safe Streets and the Texas Civil Rights Project are calling on the Austin City Council to investigate. Council has been on its summer recess and reconvenes next week.
