Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Protesters' cries for change shut down Grand Rapids City Commission meeting

Peter Lyoya holds up a picture of his son Patrick Lyoya, 26, in his home in Lansing, Mich., April 14, 2022. Patrick was face-down on the ground when he was fatally shot in the head by a Grand Rapids Police officer after resisting arrest on April 4, 2022. Grand Rapids police released four videos from different sources Wednesday, nine days after Patrick Lyoya was killed during a traffic stop. Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Lyoya's family are planning to hold a news conference Thursday afternoon. (AP Photo/Anna Nichols)
Anna Nichols/AP
/
AP
Peter Lyoya holds up a picture of his son Patrick Lyoya, 26, in his home in Lansing, Mich., April 14, 2022. Patrick was face-down on the ground when he was fatally shot in the head by a Grand Rapids Police officer after resisting arrest on April 4, 2022. Grand Rapids police released four videos from different sources Wednesday, nine days after Patrick Lyoya was killed during a traffic stop. Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Lyoya's family are planning to hold a news conference Thursday afternoon. (AP Photo/Anna Nichols)

The meeting was ultimately adjourned as around three dozen protesters flooded to the center of the room, demanding their voices be heard.

Grand Rapids’ City Commission meeting ended abruptly on Tuesday night, as city leaders walked out and activists chanted in the empty meeting room. The uproar comes one day after the City’s police department identified Christopher Schurr as the officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya.

The seats of Grand Rapids’ city commissioners sat empty by the end of Tuesday’s commission meeting. Mayor Rosalynn Bliss had called a recess during the public comment period, due to a community speaker’s use of expletives and over-running time at the microphone.

The meeting was ultimately adjourned as around three dozen protesters flooded to the center of the room, demanding their voices be heard.

“Patrick Lyoya’s blood is on all ya’ll hands and I hope you know that,” one protester yelled.

As police entered the space, GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom remained in the room to speak with activists, who were demanding he fire and arrest Christopher Schurr, the GRPD officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head during a traffic a stop this month.

“If I fired Chris Schurr today that would be a due process violation. He would grieve it, win immediately because I don’t have the investigation period. I don’t have any part of the investigation. He would win immediately. He would get hired back and he would be a police officer for the rest of his career, no matter what. And there would be nothing I could do,” Winstrom said.

Schurr is currently on paid leave, stripped of his police powers pending Michigan State Police’s investigation into the incident. By law no charges can be filed against Schurr until the MSP wraps up its investigation.

Story from WGVU