Grand Rapids police release four videos of shooting death of Patrick Lyoya
Four different angles showed the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya when he was shot by an officer during a fight after a traffic stop.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (FOX 2) – Patrick Lyoya was shot and killed on April 4 by a Grand Rapids police officer after the two got into a fight following a traffic stop. On Wednesday, April 13, Grand Rapids officials released four different videos of the man’s death. This is what we saw.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, Public Oversight and Accountability Director Brandon Davis and City Manager Mark Washington discussed the shooting. Prior to the video’s release, city leaders warned about the graphic nature of the videos.
They released four videos: the responding officer’s car dash cam, the officer’s body camera, a neighbor’s doorbell camera, and a cell phone video shot by a passenger in the car Lyoya was driving.
PLUS: Patrick Lyoya was shot in the head by a Grand Rapids police officer
The officer stopped Lyoya because of a license plate problem, which is a punishable offense in Michigan.
Grand Rapids Police dash cam video
The first video released by police was from the officer’s car dash cam. As soon as Lyoya pulls her car to the curb, she opens the door and gets out.
The officer orders her to stay in the car as she approaches him. The dashcam audio does not detail the nature of the traffic stop at this point.
It shows Lyoya starting to walk away from the camera as the officer follows him. Lyoya then runs towards the camera and the officer chases him into a driveway and then appears to take him into custody.
Both he and Lyoya are standing upright and walking, but they are still fighting right now. That’s when the two disappear from camera right.
Nothing could be seen or heard for a few minutes until the passenger got out of the front seat.
Approximately 3 minutes into the video, a single off-camera gunshot is heard.
A few minutes later, more officers arrived and ordered the witness to back up.
Grand Rapids Police Body Camera Video
The following video released by police was from the responding officer’s body camera.
It starts with him getting out of his squad car and approaching Lyoya as he gets out of the car.
He tells Lyoya that he is holding him back and asks for his license. Lyoya asked him what he had done wrong and the officer said that ‘the license plate does not belong to this car’.
Lyoya then opens the driver’s side door, looks inside, and talks to the passenger. Audio could not be heard.
Lyoya started to walk towards the front hood of the car and the officer told him to stop before radioing that he had someone running.
The officer then grabs him and yells at him to put his hands behind his back. The camera is pressed against Lyoya’s back and not much is visible apart from Lyoya’s sweater.
The officer then pulls out his Taser, which Lyoya grasps with his left hand as the officer deploys the Taser.
In the video, he tells Lyoya to release the taser multiple times, but the video stops. The body camera went off at this point and Chief Winstrom later said that he had become dislodged in the struggle.
Grand Rapids police release footage of Patrick Lyoya’s traffic stop that ended in his fatal shooting
After mounting public pressure, Grand Rapids police released a series of videos showing one of their officers shooting and killing Patrick Lyoya more than a week ago.
doorbell camera
The third video released by police was from a doorbell camera about two houses away. In that video, you can see the officer and Lyoya talking in the street and then the ensuing chase around Lyoya’s car before finally landing in the driveway across the street from the doorbell camera.
In this video, you can see and hear the officer pull out his Taser and deploy it as he tells Lyoya to drop the Taser. Shortly after that, a gunshot can be heard.
The shooting was partially visible from this angle.
Witness cell phone video
The third video, and the most graphic, was shot by the passenger in the front seat of Lyoya’s car.
He started recording while the officer and Lyoya were fighting in the yard next to where Lyoya was detained.
In this video, which doesn’t show much of the original fight, you can hear the taser being discharged as the witness speaks. The witness says that Lyoya did not grab the taser when the officer yells at him to drop it.
This when you can clearly see the officer on top of Lyoya and telling him to drop the Taser. At this point, the officer has Lyoya face down on the ground and is on top of him.
The officer reaches for his rear right hip for his gun and pulls it out. He then fires the gun once, shooting Lyoya in the back of the head.
Due to the graphic nature, we have removed the shooting moment from the video.
The officer then sat on Lyoya’s motionless body and demanded that the witness return.
He did not attempt to render Lyoya any assistance.
Michigan State Police is leading the investigation. The officer has not been named, but has been suspended from the department where the investigation is taking place.
Related: The fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya by an officer in Grand Rapids is a double tragedy, says ret. deputy chief of the DPD
State Attorney General Dana Nessel issued the following statement:
“I have every expectation that the Grand Rapids Police Department will cooperate fully with the Michigan State Police in their investigation and that the local prosecutor will conduct a thorough analysis of the legal facts that apply to this case.”
Reference-www.fox2detroit.com