Mistrial in murder case against officer who shot black motorist

A judge declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of a Michigan police officer who fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop.

Christopher Schurr was charged with second-degree murder for the killing of 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 4 April 2022.

The killing of Mr Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, sparked widespread protests and put the question of racial injustice and policing in the spotlight.

“It hurts. My family, my wife, we are bleeding,” Mr Lyoya’s father said after the judge declared mistrial. “We will continue to fight under we get the true justice for Patrick.”

The mistrial is a partial victory for Mr Schurr, who still could face another trial.

The 4 April incident was caught in graphic detail and from multiple angles on a police bodycam and dashboard camera, an eyewitness’ phone and a doorbell security system from a nearby home.

Footage shows Mr Lyoya fleeing from Mr Schurr on foot following a traffic stop. The two men scuffle over Mr Schurr’s Taser before he shoots Mr Lyoya, who was face-down on the ground.

The scuffle over the Taser was central to Mr Schurr’s defence, who testified that he was in great fear because a Taser can cause “excruciating pain” and injury.

“I believed that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” Mr Schurr said of shooting Mr Lyoya.

Mr Schurr, an officer in the Grand Rapids police department for seven years, was fired soon after he was charged in 2022.

Patricl Lyoya came to the US with his family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014. He had lived in Grand Rapids for about five years, according to the office of civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Lyoya family.

His killing sparked protests in Grand Rapids, renewing questions around police brutality and why traffic stops involving black men so often result in tragedy.

The mistrial comes just one day after three former Memphis police officers were acquitted of murder in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a black man who was beaten during a traffic stop in 2023.