“Can you imagine, how they must be discussing Patrick in the Congo?” Sharpton asked. “Patrick, in Africa? Patrick, all over this world? We stand with President Biden for those victims in Ukraine.”
“How they are saying, but they shot a young boy in the United States,” he added. “How from Ukraine to Grand Rapids we must stand up for victims.”
Sharpton said “we can’t bring Patrick back,” but “we can bring justice in Patrick’s name.”
Also speaking at the funeral, U.S Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, and the state’s only Black member of Congress, said she wanted to say to the family that “today is a day of grieving, but today the community has come to put their arms around you.”
She said she came to speak because the issue is personal.
“This is my community and if I don’t stand up, who will,” she added. “Today we lay to rest a man, father, son — and a victim. We know that as we have gotten our call to action we have work to do.”
Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack, who has been outspoken about Lyoya death, called upon local elected officials to speak up against “over policing in African-American communities.”
“We need you on the front lines, every day,” he said.
And he led the crowd in chants of “Black Lives Matter.”
In recent years, police officers nationally have come under increased scrutiny as media outlets have uncovered how hundreds of motorists who were not wielding a weapon or sought for a violent crime.
In 2020, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked protests across the country.
Last year, a Free Press investigation found that Black men are nearly six times more likely in Michigan to be charged with resisting than white men and minor infractions, like failing to use a turn signal, have resulted in the forceful arrests.
According to a New York Times investigation , American police officers, over the previous five years, had killed more than 400 people “who were not wielding a gun or knife or under pursuit for a violent crime.”
And this year alone, more than 250 people were fatally shot by on-duty police officers nationwide, a Washington Post database shows.
Since Lyoya’s death, there have been multiple protests in Grand Rapids and other cities across Michigan, including one in Lansing on Thursday.
The officer, whose name has not been released by officials, is on paid leave and is the subject of an investigation by the Michigan State Police. No charges have been brought against him.
A refugee from the Congo, Lyoya was shot an killed by a bullet fired in the back of his head, his family attorneys and an independent autopsy by two well-known pathologists said.
Read more:
Patrick Lyoya funeral at Grand Rapids church will be open to public
Patrick Lyoya escaped violence and persecution in Congo only to die in Michigan
Family attorney Benjamin Crump said Thursday that Lyoya “was brutally executed.” He specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases, and touts he is “devoted to advocating for the voiceless of our society.”
Crump — who has represented high-profile victims of police violence, including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Michael Brown — spoke at the funeral, saying “we come here to make a plea for justice.”
He said that people could witness with their own eyes what happened.
“It’s not just an issue that affects Grand Rapids,” he said, adding that it goes beyond the state, country, and applies to the world. “This is an issue that affects all humanity because Patrick was a human being.”
Lyoya and his family faced violence and persecution in Congo, which has seen prolonged conflict. In the past couple of years, immigrants from Congo have made up the largest group of refugees in Michigan.
Lyoya’s parents told the Free Press through a translator that their son was a loving son who worked in a small plant manufacturing auto parts.
“They told us that in America, there’s peace, there’s safety, you’re not going to see killing anymore,” Dorcas Lyoya said. She added that the United States was portrayed as “a safe haven.”
Patrick Lyoya was pulled over by a police officer who said his license plate did not match the car. Crump suggested Lyoya may have been racially profiled since the officer initially approached him in the opposite direction and then made a U-turn.
After Lyoya got out of the car, a short chase and struggle ensued.
The officer drew his Taser at one point, video footage showed. The two wrestled over the Taser. While Lyoya was face down, the officer fired a bullet into the back of his head.
The independent autopsy report showed no other injuries on Lyoya’s body.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo.
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