A fence surrounds the entrance to the Grand Rapids police station on April 14, 2022, following the killing of Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan. | Source: Scott Olson / Getty
A new lawsuit in Michigan alleges a local police department’s culture of unchecked racism and discrimination in a case centered on the killing of an unarmed Black motorist during a traffic stop earlier this year.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the family of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee who was shot in the back of his head at close range following a brief struggle with now-fired Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr. Both the city of Grand Rapids and Schurr were named as defendants in the suit.
The legal developments draw attention to the Grand Rapids Police Department‘s long-established history of racially profiling Black people at gunpoint, especially children.
https://blackamericaweb.com/2022/12/07/grand-rapids-racist-custom-patrick-lyoya/
The lawsuit claims excessive force, alleging that “no reasonable officer would have responded to Patrick’s get away from a traffic stop as a reasonable basis to use deadly force.”
The family’s lawyers also wrote that “when he shot Patrick in the back of the head, Schurr had no information to support a reasonable suspicion that Patrick was dangerous.”
As part of another count, the lawsuit alleges a federal civil rights violation.
The lawyers claim the “city has a history of whitewashing excessive force cases and citizen complaints, and routinely fails to adequately discipline their offending officers, even when City has concluded that the officer violated its policies or procedures.”
The lawsuit cites an April 2017 study that showed “Black drivers were more than twice as likely than white drivers to be stopped by the City’s Police Department. Black people only make up 14% of the City’s population.”
