Civil rights groups on Wednesday responded to the release of video footage showing a Grand Rapids, Michigan police officer fatally shooting unarmed 26-year-old Black motorist Patrick Lyoya earlier this month by condemning what they called excessive use of force and demanding the killer be identified and brought to justice.
"This is horrifying, heartbreaking, and deeply frustrating because we had meaningful legislation designed to avoid exactly what we are all witnessing in this video," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. "The law enforcement officer involved has blood on his hands, and so do the partisan senators who killed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill aimed at reducing police brutality and holding law enforcement accountable for egregious abuses of power."
