(GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan) — A Michigan police officer struggled with a Black man before fatally shooting him from behind while the motorist was on the ground, according to videos of the April 4 shooting released Wednesday.
Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, released four videos, including cellphone footage showing the shooting of Patrick Lyoya after a traffic stop that was recorded by a passenger in Lyoya’s car.
Lyoya (26 years old) runs away from an officer who stopped him because he was in violation of his license plates. The two of them struggled to the front yard of several homes in Grand Rapids.
Before the videos were released, City Manager Mark Washington warned they would lead to public “expressions of shock, of anger and of pain.”
More than 100 people marched to Grand Rapids City Hall before a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, chanting “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace.”
“The video contains strong language as well as graphic images resulting in the loss of life. Viewer discretion is advised,” said Police Chief Eric Winstrom.
Winstrom last week said he met Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, and that they both cried.
“I get it as a father. … It’s just heart-wrenching,” the chief told WOOD-TV.
Kent County’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Cohle, said he completed the autopsy on the day of Lyoya’s death, but that toxicology results haven’t been completed. He stated that the complete report wouldn’t be released until an investigation by the state police is completed.
“This is the standard operating procedure,” Cohle said.
Like many American cities, Grand Rapids’ police are sometimes criticized for their use of force against Blacks, 18% of whom live in the city.
Michigan’s Supreme Court heard arguments on November 12th in a case involving the practice to photograph and take fingerprints of people without being charged. Grand Rapids claimed that this policy has changed since 2015.
Breonna Taylor Way is a street located downtown. It was named after the Grand Rapids-native and Black woman who was murdered by officers in Louisville, Kentucky in 2020 during a botched drugs raid.
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