GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids resident who witnessed the April altercation between former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr and Patrick Lyoya said Thursday that Schurr had "physical control" when they were wrestling before Lyoya was shot.
Wayne Butler testified in the 61st District Court preliminary exam of Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Lyoya that prompted a national outcry from African American leaders. Second-degree murder is a felony offense punishable by up to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Butler said he saw the traffic stop and the chase, which ended when the officer caught up with Lyoya in front of his home. He described Lyoya as "disoriented."
Schurr and Lyoya wrestled for 60 seconds in front of the home before they ended up in the next door neighbor's yard, Butler said. The officer had "physical control" all of the time, he said.
"You could tell he was getting worn out," Butler said, who later said "the officer was definitely tired."
He then saw Schurr pull out a Taser and shoot it, but the Taser didn't work. Everyone, including Lyoya and the officer, were surprised by this, said Butler, who later identified himself as a church deacon.
Butler said he sensed the situation was going to get worse, so he headed upstairs in his house to get his phone to record what was happening. When he was halfway up the stairs, he said he heard gun shots.
Butler is one of several witnesses that Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker is calling Thursday in what is expected to be a two-day preliminary exam. Becker said at a June news conference that Schurr's shooting of Lyoya was not justified by self-defense.
"Taking a look at everything that I reviewed in this case, I believe there's a sufficient basis to proceed," Becker said at the time.
Schurr attorney Matt Borgula said in June the defense planned to argue that the police officer followed Grand Rapids Police Department policy, which allowed officers to use deadly force "only to defend themselves, another officer, or another person against a reasonable threat of death or serious bodily injury."
Schurr feels he did nothing wrong, Borgula said.
"Before lethal force was used, he took several steps, to the point where he was exhausted and felt that he was in danger of lethal harm himself before he decided to pull his weapon," Borgula said. "I think that's going to be the defense, and I think we're going to be victorious."
"If you look at the videos, there are several stages in which Officer Schurr went from the least amount of force necessary until he went to lethal," he said. "I think you're going to hear some testimony that he followed his procedure and he didn't use excessive force."
Ven Johnson, a Detroit attorney representing Lyoya's family, said four months ago he thought the second-degree murder charge against Schurr is reasonable, adding the officer was "lucky that he's not been charged with first-degree murder."
"We already have the evidence, and there's going to be a lot more by the time the prosecutor and (family attorney) Ben Crump and I go to the civil case," Johnson told The Detroit News. "And that is, this officer shot and killed somebody by blowing off the back of his head in an execution-style format when that man was not even armed."
Schurr, 31, killed Lyoya, 26, during a traffic stop on April 4. In a video released by the Grand Rapids Police Department of the incident, Schurr asked Lyoya, a Black immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, if he had a driver's license and spoke English. When Lyoya indicated he spoke English and wanted to know why the license needed to be produced, the officer said the car wasn't registered.
Lyoya eventually fled the car, after which a chase on foot ensued. The officer and Lyoya struggled over the officer's stun gun, according to the video, before the officer shot Lyoya in the back of the head while Lyoya was face down on the ground.
An independent autopsy performed at the request of the Lyoya family's lawyers confirmed in April that it was a gunshot wound to the back of the head that killed Lyoya. The Kent County medical examiner's report found that Lyoya's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit.
———
(Detroit News staff writer Hayley Harding contributed to this report.)
