Grand Rapids police in Michigan released four videos of the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, an unarmed 26-year-old man who was shot and killed earlier this month following a traffic stop.
But only one of those videos provides a clear angle of the shooting which is posted below. The rest of the videos can be seen in a lengthy video of today’s press conference linked below.
The incident took place on April 4 after a cop pulled Lyoya because the license plate on the car he was driving was not registered to the car.
The video shows Lyoya, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, stepping out of the car and appearing confused as to why he had been pulled over.
The cop tries to explain, then asks for his driver’s license and Lyoya tells him it is inside the car. The cop whose name has not been released tells him to retrieve the license and Lyoya opens the car door and speaks to a man in the passenger’s seat.
But then Lyoya begins to walk away from the cop, prompting the cop to grab hold of him, sparking a short pursuit and struggle in the front yard of a house.
The cop pulls out his taser and deploys it but Lyoya grabs on to it to keep from being tasered. The cop then pulls out his gun and shoots him in the head as the passenger in the car records.
Lyoya’s family has retained attorney Ben Crump who issued the following statement.
“Patrick Lyoya immigrated to the United States from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to pursue the American Dream and provide a better and safer life for himself and his family. Instead, what found him was a fatal bullet to the back of the head, delivered by an officer of the Grand Rapids Police Department. The video clearly shows that this was an unnecessary, excessive, and fatal use of force against an unarmed Black man who was confused by the encounter and terrified for his life. It should be noted that Patrick never used violence against this officer even though the officer used violence against him in several instances for what was a misdemeanor traffic stop. We demand that the officer who killed Patrick not only be terminated for his use of excessive force, but be arrested and prosecuted for the violent killing of Patrick Lyoya.”
The videos were released earlier today in a press conference in which Grand Rapids Police Chief said the case is being investigated by Michigan State Police. Watch the full press conference here which includes all the videos, including dash and body camera videos as well as a security video from a home and the video recorded by Lyoya’s passenger.
The edited video is below.
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