An independent autopsy found that 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya, an unarmed Black man, was shot in the back of the head by a white Grand Rapids cop as part of a traffic stop that may have been sparked by racial profiling, lawyers representing the family said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz said he believed the gun was pressed to the back of Lyoya’s head when he was shot, using a skull and illustrations to explain the path of the bullet.
The autopsy, commissioned by lawyers for the family of the deceased, also showed that Lyoya had no other wounds on his body other than the gunshot, the pathologist said.
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Spitz reviewed the body at the Gillespie funeral home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after the autopsy was commissioned by Lyoya’s family and their lawyers.
“They are still just in utter disbelief,” Benjamin Crump, the high-profile civil rights attorney who often represents families of those killed by police, said in response to a question posed by The Daily Beast. “As they said, ‘My heart was snatched out of my body,’ is what his father and mother articulated.”
Jennifer Kalczuk, a spokesperson for the Grand Rapids Police Department, refused to comment on the autopsy results, which preceded the release of an official autopsy by authorities.
“It would be inappropriate to comment on any aspect of the case while the official Michigan State Police investigation is underway,” she said. Charges have not been filed in connection with the killing, and officials have refused to identify the officer who fired the shot.
Tuesday’s announcement came after the release of disturbing footage last week that appeared to show the cop shoot Lyoya in the head from behind as he was face down while the two struggled on the ground after a traffic stop.
Lyoya appears to have stepped out of his vehicle when the police officer initially approached the beige sedan he had been driving.
But then the interaction escalated as the unnamed cop grabbed Lyoya from behind as the Congolese immigrant started to walk slowly away.
Lyoya shook off the officer and then ran a short distance before the cop tackled him to the ground in the driveway of a nearby house.
“Let go of the taser!” exclaimed the unnamed officer as he struggled with Lyoya for the device before reaching for his gun.
The shooting quickly inflamed tension between community members and cops in an area with a legacy of police misconduct, as protests erupted in Grand Rapids, where hundreds of marchers called for transparency.
Grand Rapids’ Black community makes up roughly 18 percent of the population in a city that is majority white.
Public pressure was also mounting to release the name of the officer who carried out the shooting. Among the voices was that of Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, who immigrated with his family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to escape war.
“I’m asking for the law to release his face, his image and his identification because I would love to know the person who has killed my son,” he said at a press conference after release of the footage, according to the Associated Press.
While it was not unprecedented for authorities to refuse to identify officers who kill civilians, at least initially, some departments have erred toward greater transparency in recent years, especially in the wake of nationwide protests over police brutality in 2020.
“Not releasing the officer’s name is consistent with our policy of naming any individual who has not been charged with a crime,” maintained Kalczuk, the police spokesperson.
But while police vehicle and neighborhood cameras recorded the final moments of Lyoya’s life from afar, the police officer’s body-worn camera deactivated moments before the shooting, according to the Grand Rapids Police Department.
Lyoya family attorney Ven Johnson expressed skepticism on Tuesday that the camera might have been deactivated by accident, amid the struggle on the ground. “The button needs to be depressed for three seconds,” he said at the press conference.
“Tell me how in a struggle, while he’s on top of our client, our client is face down to the ground, that body cam can be depressed right on that one spot for three seconds.”
Lyoya was stopped over a license plate that was allegedly not registered to the car he was driving, and had reached for the officer’s taser, according to the Grand Rapids Police Department.
At Tuesday’s press conference, the Lyoya family’s attorneys refuted police statements, telling reporters that the family deemed the shooting “murder,” and reiterated that the officer needed to be fired and prosecuted.
“This was not a deadly force scenario,” said attorney Ven Johnson.
Crump said the attorneys were investigating “every aspect” of how a routine traffic stop ended in a “deadly execution.”
“We both acknowledge that we have to investigate whether this is a classic DWB case—a driving while Black case,” said Crump, who then questioned how the officer knew Lyoya’s registration was not valid if he initially drove past in the opposite direction. The attorneys cited video they said showed the officer passed Lyoya once before turning around and pursuing him.
“In America you should not be sentenced to death for walking away from the police,” he later added.
Michigan State Police were continuing to investigate the fatal shooting.
“This remains an active investigation and we have no further information to give at this time,” spokesperson Lt. Michelle Robinson said in an email, adding, “We remain committed to conducting a thorough and complete investigation, which will be turned over to the Kent County Prosecutor when complete.”
The Lyoya family plans to honor Patrick Lyoya’s life at a funeral on Friday, where Reverend Al Sharpton will deliver a eulogy.
