#patrick lyoya

[liberalsarecool]

Using a traffic stop as pretense for murder is standard operating procedure for police.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, this week, released chilling video that showed the officer on top of Lyoya, 26, who was lying facedown in the grass when he was shot in the [back of the] head during a traffic stop April 4.

Michigan State Police are investigating the fatal shooting before eventually turning it over to Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker for a charging decision.

#PatrickLyoya was executed by Grand Rapids police.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Phillip Jackson at HuffPost: 

On June 27, a minor traffic stop cost a Black man his life.

Jayland Walker, 25, was pulled over by police in Akron, Ohio, for unspecified traffic and equipment violations. He took off, and police later said that Walker fired a shot as he was driving away from officers. During the nearly 3-minute chase, he left his car, which was still moving.

Eight police officers fired an estimated 90 shots at Walker after they attempted to electroshock him. A gun was found inside his car, but he was shot away from the vehicle after fleeing and no weapon was found on him when police arrived and handcuffed him. Walker was pronounced dead by medics at the scene shortly after.

Police released body camera footage of the shooting nearly a week later, on July 3, and widespread protests forced the cancellation of the city’s July 4 weekend events.

On Friday morning, the Summit County medical examiner released an autopsy report concluding that Walker was shot or grazed 46 times by Akron police.

Walker is just one of almost 600 people who have been killed since 2017 after being stopped by police for only a minor violation. Earlier this year, a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man and Congolese refugee. The officer initiated a traffic stop over an unregistered license plate, and after a brief struggle, shot Lyoya in the back of the head.

Using deadly force on an unarmed person who is fleeing is unconstitutional. In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled in Tennessee v. Garner that police officers can’t use deadly force in these situations unless police have probable cause that a threat was apparent. But that caveat allows wide wiggle room for police to claim they encountered a threat, and Akron police are sure to cite the alleged shot fired from Walker’s car, even though he was later found to be unarmed.

“Police discretion is so broad that they can justify their actions a lot of times in some way,” said Miltonette Craig, a criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University in Texas. “Unless we have things like bodycam footage and bystander video recording to piece things together — their discretion works in their favor in a lot of these cases.”

And the act of fleeing itself is, in some states, a felony. That’s the case in Ohio, where Walker was killed. Experts say that not only does this trigger some police defenses for using lethal force, but it escalates simple fleeing offenses into high-stakes situations where a lot can go wrong.

“There is an example of the law [that] is misaligned with reality,” said Nikki Jones, a professor of African American studies at University of California, Berkeley.

“The law does not offer protection [for Walker], it offers protection for officers using force,” Jones said. “And the perception by the officers was that Jayland Walker was a threat, but it does not take the perspective that Jayland Walker saw them as a threat.”

In Michigan, where Lyoya was killed, fleeing and eluding police is considered a Class H felony, which carries a sentence of up to two years in prison.

“There is reason to think that when laws classify a behavior as felonious, the enforcement of those laws intensifies,” said TaLisa Carter, an assistant professor at American University in the department of justice, law and criminology. “Just as when laws relax around certain offenses, the way police respond to those actions also relaxes.”

The legal definition of when police can use lethal force is important, but the mindset of many police toward fleeing suspects remains dangerous even in states where it is not a felony. In Maryland, fleeing police is a misdemeanor, but in February, Baltimore police fatally shot Donnell Rochester, a Black teenager, as he was fleeing a traffic stop while driving. While the department said the car was driving toward the officer and struck him, body camera footage showed Rochester driving and the officer never being hit. Initial police accounts also gave conflicting stories as to what actually happened around Rochester’s fatal incident, casting room for doubt.

Some cities, like Washington, have instituted “no-chase” policies which would prohibit most police car chases. The policy, which came out of a reform commission following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, cited the case of Karon Hylton-Brown, a Black man who was riding a scooter while being chased by D.C. police and died after he was hit by a driver. Jeffrey Price died after he was struck by a D.C. police car in May 2018 while riding his dirt bike. The family filed a lawsuit saying police engaged in a pursuit and blocked him on purpose — leading to his death.

Chicago also instituted its no-chase-on-foot policy in June. The change came after the high-profile 2021 shooting of Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old who was fatally shot by a Chicago cop.

Routine traffic stops often turn deadly. 

Read the full story at HuffPost.

[iamafanofcartoons]

A 13-year-old girl speaking at the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting in regards to the murder of Patrick Lyoya

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1547364174124224521

Her voice needs to be heard.

[megashadowdragon]

GOP Prosecutor FOLDS To WOKE Mob! Charges Police Officer With 2nd Degree Murder Of Patrick Loyola!!

comments on youtube

Noticing that one guy that "says" he is innocent until proven guilty, but then advocates for a guilty until proven innocent style pressure.

the problem here is even if the officer isn't convicted his law enforcement career is over. he is done as a cop.

They have been "calling for accountability".......you know....not for the criminal who fkkn RAN AWAY, RESISTED ARREST, FOUGHT THE OFFICER and TRIED TO GRAB THE OFFICER'S WEAPON, but for the police officer who was trying to do his JOB.

I'll agree, him getting shot in the head was horrific. It was so disturbing it made me cry, but that man put HIMSELF in that position with all his fuckery.

What kind of message does this send to these criminals that consistently resist arrest and fight the officers….These people wanting this officer charged are part of the bigger problem….teach these broken individuals accountability instead of victimhood.

This is going to ruin this country, what person in their right mind would want to be a police officer when you will likely be charged with murder for defending your own life!

This is going to ruin this country, what person in their right mind would want to be a police officer when you will likely be charged with murder for defending your own life!

This is unbelieveable. Look, if you grab an officers taser while struggling with him on the ground and that officer fears that you may gain control of that taser he MUST move to lethal means to ensure that the combatant doesn't tase him and then take his gun off him and kill him with it. The people making these decision for the police officers that are put in these extraordinary situations have a COLOSSOL lack of understanding of why they make the decisions they do while under pressure. If we don't start standing up for these officers we're going to find ourselves without a police force and the beginning of an even more lawless society than we already have. This is mission critical!!Show less

its only a matter of time before cops stop responding to black callers

The prosecutor is a coward but more importantly we have lost our moral compass,  now once again police are going to say it's not worth it and crime increases even more!!

As a life long grand rapids resident who went to 8 different schools I can tell you the liberal white guilt is crazy. So much racism towards whites. I was jumped several times simply for being white in the wrong neighborhood. Or the only white kid on the 8th grade youth center basketball team . Told the cops who run it the next day and they didn't care at all so I quit and said you can tell the coach why I'm not at practice and threw my I.D. in his face and never went back... I was never so proud to have made a team and looking back feel sick about it.Show less

Lets hope this doesnt go the Floyd route where a innocent man in convicted of a crime he didnt commit. Lets instead hope this goes the Rittenhouse route and he is found innocent and sues EVERYONE who lied about the case. I believe he deserves a early retirement for making the world a better place.

anyone who tries to claim that the cop shouldnt have chased after the perp  o that the cop chasing the perp means he loses the self defense argument has no respect or value of life if the perp manages to escape it would lead to them committing another crime and hurting someone else  

he is an officer of the law he is supposed to chase after the perp who runs away  to arrest them   he isnt responsible if the perp escalates 

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Stephanie K. Baer at BuzzFeed News:

A Michigan police officer who fatally shot a Black man in the head while kneeling on his body after pulling him over for a traffic stop has been charged with second-degree murder, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Patrick Lyoya, 26, was killed by Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr on the morning of April 4. Graphic video released by the police department days later showed Schurr struggling to detain a confused Lyoya after asking to see his driver's license. Police said Lyoya was pulled over due to "an improper Michigan registration" for the car he was driving.

"Taking a look at everything that I reviewed in this case I believe there is a sufficient basis to proceed on a single count of second-degree murder, and that charge has been filed with the courts as of today," Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker told reporters during a news conference.

Schurr was placed on paid leave and stripped of his police powers pending the outcome of the investigation, which was conducted by the Michigan State Police. On Thursday, Grand Rapids police Chief Eric Winstrom said he is recommending that Schurr be immediately suspended without pay as the city moves forward with the process to terminate his employment as a result of the prosecutor's decision.

Becker said Schurr has turned himself in to state police and is expected to be arraigned on the charge on Friday.

"I hope it sends [the message] that we take these cases seriously," he said. "Everybody thinks the prosecutors are essentially an arm or just a branch of police, and we're not. We are our own entity [and] we have a duty to enforce the law be it on police or the public."

The April 4 encounter was captured on video from the officer's body-worn camera, his car's dash camera, a home surveillance camera, and a cellphone video. The footage shows Lyoya and Schurr talking face-to-face on a residential street moments before the deadly shooting.

In the footage, Lyoya looks confused about why Schurr had pulled him over. According to the videos, the encounter turned physical after Lyoya started walking in front of the car and the officer followed him, telling him to stop, and then grabbed the 26-year-old by his shoulder.

Lyoya then ran through the street and onto the sidewalk before the officer tackled him to the grass in front of a house as the struggle ensued. At one point, he is seen grabbing at Schurr's Taser, but it's unclear from the videos whether he ever had full control of the weapon.

As the struggle continued, Lyoya is captured in the cellphone video, which was recorded by the passenger of his car, lying on his stomach with the cop on top of him. Lyoya appeared to be trying to push up off the ground when the officer removed his gun from its holster and fired one round at the back of his head.

Autopsies conducted by the county medical examiner and an independent expert hired by Lyoya’s family concluded that he died from a gunshot to the back of his head.

Christopher Schurr, the Grand Rapids PD officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya in the head, got tagged with 2nd degree murder charges. 

[webchennel1]

Michigan officer charged with murder in Lyoya shooting

Michigan officer charged with murder in Lyoya shooting

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A prosecutor filed a second-degree murder charge Thursday against the Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was on the ground when he was shot in the back of the head following an intense physical struggle recorded on a bystander’s phone. Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker announced his decision against Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr,…

[uvmagazine]

Michigan Police Officer charged with second-degree murder in Patrick Lyoya shooting death

Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr has been charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya.

A Michigan police officer, who killed Patrick Lyoya with a shot to the back of his head, has been charged with second-degree murder. Police officer charged Prosecutor Chris Becker announced charges Thursday against Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr, weeks after the 26-year-old Congolese refugee was killed following a traffic stop on April 4. Lyoya, who was unarmed, was on the ground when he…

[uvmagazine]

A Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya with a shot to the back of his head has been charged with second-degree murder.

Prosecutor Chris Becker announced charges Thursday against Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr, weeks after Lyoya, 26, was killed following a chaotic traffic stop on April 4.

Lyoya, who was unarmed, was on the ground when he was shot and killed. The shooting was recorded on video by a bystander.

[africanamericanreports]

Grand Rapids police identified Christopher Schurr as the officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya after an April 4 traffic stop.