Judge To Rule Monday If Ex-Grand Rapids Officer Who Fatally Shot Patrick Lyoya Will Head To Trial

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A judge in Michigan is scheduled to announce Monday whether the former White police officer who earlier this year fatally shot Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, in Grand Rapids will stand trial for the killing.

State District Court Judge Nicholas Ayoub will “draft a written opinion, and I will present it in court 10 a.m. Monday morning,” he said Friday after a preliminary examination hearing to determine if there was enough probable cause for the case to go to a jury.

Lyoya’s final moments were captured in videos released to the public. His death, like those of other unarmed Black men at the hands of police, prompted protests, with demonstrators chanting, “Justice for Patrick.”

The ex-Grand Rapids Police Department officer, Christopher Schurr, shot Lyoya in the back of the head during a struggle April 4 while trying to arrest him after a traffic stop.

Schurr is charged with second-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty. He was “justified in his use of force,” his lawyer Mark Dodge has argued.

He was fired about two months after the encounter.

Lyoya had three outstanding warrants and a revoked driver’s license at the time he fled the traffic stop, and an autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol concentration was more than three times the legal limit.