A black man pinned to the ground by a Michigan police officer was shot in the back of the head, according to footage released of the violenct incident on Thursday.
Patrick Lyoya, 26, was killed outside a house in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 4 after a violent struggle ensued over a Taser during a routine traffic stop.
The unnamed officer repeatedly ordered Lyoya to “let go” of his Taser, at one point demanding: “Drop the Taser!”
The city’s police chief, Eric Winstrom, released four videos, including critical footage of the shooting, recorded by a passenger in Lyoya’s car.
“I view it as a tragedy. ... It was a progression of sadness for me,” said Winstrom, a former high-ranking Chicago police commander who became Grand Rapids chief in March.
Video shows Lyoya running from the officer who stopped him for driving with a license plate that didn’t belong to the vehicle. They struggled in front of several homes while Lyoya’s passenger got out and watched.
Winstrom said the fight over the Taser lasted about 90 seconds. In the final moments, the officer was on top of Lyoya, kneeling on his back.
“From my view of the video, Taser was deployed twice. Taser did not make contact,” Winstrom told reporters. “And Mr Lyoya was shot in the head. However, that’s the only information that I have.”
State police are investigating the shooting and await toxicology results after an autopsy.
Video shows Lyoya, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, getting out of the car before the officer approached. He ordered Lyoya to get back in the vehicle but he declined.
The officer asked him if he spoke English and demanded his driver’s license. The foot chase began soon after, video shows.
Winstrom didn’t identify the officer, a seven-year veteran who is on paid leave during the investigation.
City Manager Mark Washington warned the videos would lead to “expressions of shock, of anger and of pain”. Some downtown businesses boarded up their storefronts, and concrete barricades surrounded police headquarters.
Lyoya had two young daughters and five siblings, said Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who spoke to his family.
“He arrived in the United States as a refugee with his family fleeing violence. He had his whole life ahead of him,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said.
More than 100 people marched to Grand Rapids City Hall before a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, chanting “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace”.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, speaking on behalf of Lyoya’s family, on Wednesday called for the officer in the shooting to be fired and prosecuted.
“The video clearly shows that this was an unnecessary, excessive, and fatal use of force against an unarmed Black man who was confused by the encounter and terrified for his life,” Crump said in a release.
Mr Crump said Lyoya “never used violence against this officer” despite the officer’s use of deadly force, stemming from a traffic stop for a misdemeanour.
“We demand that the officer who killed Patrick not only be terminated ... but be arrested and prosecuted,” he said in a statement.
The attorney and Lyoya family will hold a news conference on Thursday.
