DETROIT — Grand Rapids police personnel preserved the clothing and equipment of Officer Christopher Schurr and questioned him after he shot and killed Patrick Lyoya, according to police reports released Friday, but his version of events was shielded from public view.
Every line of Schurr’s three-page use of force report was redacted in records obtained by The Detroit News through a public records request. The News and other media organizations filed requests for police reports about the April 4 fatal shooting of Lyoya that has renewed a nationwide outcry over alleged police brutality and violence against Black people.
Officers were on high alert after Schurr, 31, reported that he was chasing a motorist who ran away from a traffic stop in the southeast part of the city.
“(Officer) Schurr urgently asked for additional officers,” Officer Patrick Martin wrote in a report. “I responded with lights and sirens activated.”
After Schurr raised an alarm, there was silence.
“(Officer) Schurr did not answer the radio despite numerous attempts by dispatch to raise him,” Martin wrote, “leading me to believe he was in trouble.”
Dispatchers tried repeatedly to reach Schurr as officers in squad cars raced to the intersection of Nelson Avenue and Griggs Street.
“There were several radio checks on (Officer) Schurr in which he was not responding,” Sgt. Nicholas Calati wrote in a report.
Then Schurr spoke.
“1915,” Schurr said, reading aloud his police department unit identification number. His next words were interrupted by deep breaths.
“I was just…involved in a shooting ... Nelson and Griggs,” Schurr said.
Sgt. Tim Johnston was the first member of the department to reach the shooting scene.
He found Schurr taking cover behind a tree, about 20 feet from his police cruiser.
Johnston saw Lyoya face down in the front yard of a nearby home but was unable to immediately administer CPR.
He focused on the unidentified passenger from Lyoya’s car.
The sergeant grabbed his firearm, hid behind the bumper of Schurr’s cruiser and ordered Lyoya’s passenger to keep his hands above his head.
The man was slow to respond.
“My goal was to make the scene safe as quickly as possible so that we could safely move forward to render aid to the subject in the front yard without being attacked or shot by the subject standing outside the car or any other unseen person who may have been inside the suspect vehicle,” Johnston wrote.
The passenger was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser.
He kept repeating one question.
“Is my friend all right?” the man asked.
Several feet away, another member of the department, Justin Copelin, approached Lyoya’s body.
“The suspect's eyes were open and motionless and there was frothy blood coming from his nose and mouth,” Copelin wrote. “I did not see any obvious movement or other signs of life.”
Other officers questioned neighbors and tried to find video footage from home security systems and doorbell cameras.
Officer Sean LaHuis interviewed a neighbor.
“Your officer, he did all the right s..t,” the neighbor said. “He did everything he could to deescalate the situation.”
After members of the department arrived, Schurr was evaluated by paramedics and taken to Grand Rapids Police headquarters.
Martin collected the officer’s muddy uniform and boots and put them in paper bags to preserve evidence, according to the report. Personnel photographed Schurr’s hands, face and empty Taser holster.
Schurr’s body camera and Taser were on the ground near Lyoya’s body after the shooting, multiple officers who arrived at the scene described in statements included in an incident report.
Investigators also searched for DNA in several places, including Schurr’s holsters, handcuffs and belt area.
The items were delivered to Michigan State Police investigators.
(Staff Writer Carol Thompson contributed.)
