GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Protesters are gathering in the streets in Grand Rapids, Michigan following the release of video footage showing the fatal shooting of a Black man by a police officer on April 4.
100 Percent Fed Up reports – The newly-released videos were played at Wednesday’s news conference, showing the entire series of events leading up to the death of the young man, Patrick Lyoya, 26.
At the conference, the city’s police chief, Eric Winstrom, refused to name the officer who shot Lyoya because he has not been charged with any crime. The officer, however, is on paid leave pending the investigation.
The videos – from the police car’s camera, the camera worn by the officer, a neighborhood home surveillance camera, and the passenger’s phone – show Lyoya and another passenger being pulled over in a residential neighborhood. After the police car and the car Lyoya is driving come to a stop, Lyoya exits the vehicle despite the officer yelling at him to “stay in the car” repeatedly.
Lyoya, remaining outside of his vehicle, persistently asks the police officer what he did wrong. The officer informs him that “the plate does not belong on this car.” The officer then asks if he has a license, and asks Lyoya to get it from the car, and he opens the driver-side door and asks his passenger to get it for him. However, before the passenger can give him his license, Lyoya shuts the door and begins to walk away from the officer.
The officer follows Lyoya, and tries to restrain and handcuff him, but Lyoya starts fighting him and then tries to run away. The officer runs after him, eventually catching him and pinning him on the ground, yelling at him to “stop resisting” and to put his hands behind his back.
After gaining control of the situation, the police officer tries to bring Lyoya over to the police car but is again met with a struggle. It seems that the officer pulls out his taser, which is then grabbed by Lyoya. You can hear the officer repeatedly demand him to “let go of the taser,” which Lyoya doesn’t appear to listen to.
He pins Lyoya again, who then grabs the officer’s taser. As this is taking place, the passenger of the vehicle has gotten out of the car and is recording on his cell phone.
The officer then fires his gun at Lyoya’s head, killing him. On the surveillance footage from the officer’s body camera, the camera was deactivated before the shooting.
Stills from bodycam footage showing the struggle between Patrick Lyoya and the police officer for the taser
Carmine Sabia reminds his Twitter followers that a taser is a deadly weapon and that civil rights leaders should be advising others to “stop fighting with police officers and start cooperating.”
After this footage was released, hundreds of people gathered outside of the Grand Rapids Police Department to protest the shooting of Lyoya, chanting “Black Lives Matter.”
The “non-violent” protesters threw eggs at the front doors of the Grand Rapids Police Department as police officers attempted to exit through the doors. They were forced to go back inside as unidentified items were being thrown at them from the “protesters.” Unlike the January 6th protesters who were actually mostly protesters, these “protesters” will likely not be arrested or placed in solitary confinement for their behavior.
Protesters filled the streets of Grand Rapids shouting the name of Patrick Lyoya.
Watch the full video from the news conference here. For surveillance footage only, start at 27:13.