On April 4, a police officer shot Patrick Lyoya at point-blank range in the back of the head during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Two months later, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced he was charging the officer, Christopher Schurr, with second-degree murder — making Schurr the first officer from the Grand Rapids Police Department to be charged with felony murder in the shooting of a civilian.
The shooting, filmed by a witness, ignited outrage on social media. Lyoya’s death didn’t spark the same nationwide outrage as the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, but it raised tensions in Grand Rapids and underlined the often-dangerous role police can play in minor traffic stops.
Schurr said he pulled over Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, because his license plates were expired. Lyoya attempted to get away, and after a brief struggle, Schurr pulled out his gun and shot Lyoya in the back of the head while kneeling on top of him.
Jack Glaser, a professor focusing on racial bias and law enforcement at the University of California, Berkeley, said body camera footage of the traffic stop shows Schurr approaching Lyoya aggressively.
“You can go back and say the stop itself started on a bad note and was probably unnecessary,” Glaser told HuffPost. “The officer is very aggressive and moved in quickly and really contributes to a fraught situation where he is trying to get compliance and Mr. Lyoya is confused.”
