Sunday, NAACP President stood at the podium at Renaissance Church, near national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, looked over at city officials and said “We’re tired of talking. We’re tired of talking.”
He then asked for full transparency and release of the video of the shooting that killed Patrick Lyoya.
Wednesday, he saw the video and said he was devastated.
“Now we’re here today, a 26-year-old Black male — a brother, a father, a son — is dead and has lost his life, fleeing a country where he was trying to save his life,” said NAACP President Cle Jackson during a media briefing at their headquarters. ”So, as Martin Luther King said ‘Where do we go from here.”
At City Hall on Wednesday afternoon, Chief Eric Winstrom and City Manager Mark Washington held a press conference where they released the videos of the officer fatally shooting of Lyoya.
On April 4, Lyoya was pulled over near the intersection of Nelson and Griggs. He attempted to flee by boot, and a lengthy struggle ensued before the deadly shooting occurred.
“He pulled out his firearm, drew it all the way across Patrick’s back and torso, and then put it behind his head and shot him in the back of the head,” NAACP Counsel Carlton Mayers said. “It was unnecessary. It was lethal force and, in our opinion, it was just straight up murder.”
Mayers said the officer had opportunities to deescalate the problem. The video, which aired on the city of Grand Rapids YouTube channel, also revealed that a taser was deployed.
“There was no reason no using the taser,” Carlton said. “At the end of the day he had pepper-spray on him. He had a baton. He has open-hand training. For that kind of situation Patrick was unarmed.”
The NAACP also stated that they have questions and concerns regarding the bodycam video.
“And I would just say as an attorney thats fount against the police on a number of occasions, Its always coincidental when body cam isn’t working,” said another lawyer present during the press conference. “You hear it working for a while and then it’s off. And on this one I heard it working a little later.”
The NAACP said what they’d ultimately like to see is some criminal liability, and the officer be released from the department and let go. They also renewed calls to revisit the Three-Year strategic plan, which they drafted alongside the ACLU and other local organizations to prevent officer-involved shootings from happening and other related incidents.
However, they’re devastated that it happened, they said.
“It’s not if Eric Garner is going to happen here or George Floyd. It’s just when,” Jackson said. “And now we’re experiencing our when.”