Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Justice for Patrick Lyoya: Black Man Murdered by Cop during Traffic Stop

A police officer shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week. Videos released on Wednesday give us a glimpse into the latest atrocious muder of a Black man at the hands of the police. No justice, no peace.

Ezra Brain

April 13, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share
Image: WXMI

Patrick Lyoya was driving his car in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 4 when a police car pulled him over. Within five minutes, he was dead. 

Recently released dashcam video of the killing shows Lyoya, a Black man and immigrant from Congo, being pulled over, allegedly because the license plate didn’t match the car. It’s unclear why the cop decided to run the plate at all. 

Once pulled over, Lyoya gets out of the car and the police officer then begins to scream at him to get back in the car as he approaches Lyoya with one hand on his (still holstered) gun. Lyoya, who seems confused, is asked for his drivers license and, after opening and then closing the driver side door, begins to walk slowly toward the front of the car — presumably to walk around to the other door — when the officer grabs him. Lyoya responds defensively and the two struggle. Lyoya breaks free and tries to run away when the officer tackles him. The dashcam video then shows them struggle largely out-of-shot — captured, however, is the cop kneeing Lyoya several times in the stomach. 

Also released was the body cam footage of the killer cop. Complicating this video are two things: for much  of the interaction the body cam is so close to Lyoya’s body that it becomes hard to make out anything that’s happening and, right before Lyoya is killed, the camera was “deactivated” (according to the police department.) What the video does show is the cop tackling, grabbing, and attempting to tase Lyoya at multiple points. Lyoya, for his part, seems to only attempt to break free, run, and grabs the taser to push it down away from his body. For this, the state would have you believe that Lyoya deserved to die. 

The police also released video from a neighbors security camera (which shows little more than a pixelated conflict between Lyoya and the cop) and the cellphone video of a third party (who appears to be a passenger in Lyoya’s car.) The cellphone video is the most damning.  Lyoya  and the cop are seen struggling on the ground (with Lyoya clearly using his hands to push the taser away from his body, not attempting to turn it toward the cop) as the cop yells repeatedly “let go of the taser.” The witness (who previously yelled “he’s not resisting” as the officer repeated “stop resisting” during a moment when the body cam footage suspiciously went dark and audio-only) yells “he’s aint got no taser” but it isn’t clear on the video whether or not Lyoya has let go of his defensive hold on the taser. A few seconds after that, the cop draws his gun, puts it to Lyoya’s head, and shoots him. 

Unsurprisingly, the cops and their supporters are trying to frame this as justifiable killing of a suspect who poised a threat to the police officer. They talk about how there was a “struggle” but that isn’t what the video shows. What the video shows is an aggressive cop escalating a traffic stop, physically attacking a Black man as he was trying to comply, chasing him and attacking him when he tried to run, attempting to taser him, and then shooting him while the cop was fully pinning Lyoya to the ground. Every act of Lyoya’s seen in the video is an act of self-defense, self-defense against a member of the racist gang who is frequently known to murder Black men like Lyoya during traffic stops. 

Lyoya was murdered. Executed by a cop for the crime of not letting himself be attacked. Murdered for the crime of pushing a taser away from his body. Patrick Lyoya was murdered by the Grand Rapids Police Department. 

Protests have already broken out in Grand Rapids, which have active anti-police brutality organizations who immediately took up the case.  These protests should continue and spread out across the country, and reject any attempt to justify Patrick’s death because he defended himself against police violence.

Facebook Twitter Share

Ezra Brain

Ezra is a NYC based theatre artist and teacher.

United States

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

Train Derailment in Metro Detroit Illustrates That Capitalist Control of the Railroads Is Fundamentally Unsafe

With the capitalists in control of the railroads, they will destroy the environment and poison and kill workers. The catastrophe in East Palestine will not be the last if we don’t nationalize our railroads and put the safety of people and the environment over profit.

Emma Boyhtari

February 28, 2023
East Palestine, Ohio in the distance at night, smoke and fire springing up due to the train derailment.

The Ohio Train Disaster Is on Biden’s Hands

Just months after President Biden and Congress blocked railway workers from striking over dangerous working conditions, the exact type of disaster that workers predicted has come to pass. The fate of East Palestine must be a wake-up call for the labor and climate movements to fight for the nationalization of the railroads under workers’ control.

B.C. Daurelle

February 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address with US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, right, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Biden is speaking against the backdrop of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Biden’s Populist Speech Can’t Cover Up Capitalist Crisis

Biden tried to paint a picture of a United States that has come back stronger after the pandemic. But despite his populist rhetoric and laundry list of policies, none of these measures can address the real needs of the vast majority of the working class and poor who have been exploited and oppressed for much longer than the last two years.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

February 8, 2023

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023
Three tables full of food, with signs hung above them. One says "The People's Pantry: FREE FOOD." Banners hung from the tables say "Free CUNY" and "Cop Free School Zone"

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023