Recently hundreds of what appeared to be mostly pasty-faced liberals took to the streets of Grand Rapids to protest the murder and execution-style killing of a black man named Patrick Lyoya by a Grand Rapids Police Department officer who as of this writing still hasn’t been identified. The incident was captured on multiple video sources, and perhaps the agitated wokesters should have carefully analyzed all of the available footage as it was being made known before whipping themselves up into such a mindless frenzy.
Here’s what happened: The officer pulled over a vehicle driven by Lyoya because the license plate didn’t match up with the description of the vehicle on record. It was a perfectly legitimate stop; the vehicle could have been stolen. Stolen vehicles are also used as platforms from which to commit other crimes; the driver could have just committed a drive-by shooting somewhere and could have been on his way to a place to ditch the vehicle. Some of the woke have declared this to be an instance of racial profiling; so if the police see a white driver in a vehicle whose license plate doesn’t match up with the description of the vehicle on record, they’re going to let him slide and pass up the opportunity to get credit for a traffic stop investigation just because the driver is white? Give me a break. Moreover, we don’t even know for sure whether the GRPD officer was aware of Lyoya’s skin tone when he pulled him over.
After he was pulled over, Lyoya got out of the vehicle and refused multiple commands by the officer to get back into the vehicle. Lyoya repeatedly asked what he was being stopped for, and the officer twice stated that it was because his license plates didn’t belong with the car. The officer also repeatedly asked Lyoya to produce his drivers license, Lyoya finally stating that it was in the car and speaking to a passenger in the front seat. But no drivers license was forthcoming, and Lyoya closed the car door and began to walk away. The officer told him to stop, grabbed him, and told him to put his hands behind his back; Lyoya broke free after a brief struggle in the street and ran, the officer calling in what was going on and giving chase.
Now stop and think about what was going on in the officer’s mind at this time. If this had been a situation that could have been resolved by checking a drivers license, running a vehicle identification number, and asking a few questions, why was Lyoya running away? Did he have a warrant out on him? Had he just murdered someone? Was he armed?
The officer tackled Lyoya, trying to get him into the prone position and ordering him to put his hands behind his back; Lyoya, on hands and knees, was resisting, so the officer kneed him in the side to gain compliance, which is perfectly legal. Lyoya managed to get back on his feet and continue the struggle. Now anyone who has trained in some grappling art or worked in a profession that involves having to subdue out-of-control human beings can tell you that struggling with a big, strong young man can be a very draining experience. The officer decided to tase Lyoya, but the discharge wasn’t effective, and Lyoya grabbed the taser gun and wouldn’t let go. The struggle went back to the ground, Lyoya eventually getting to his hands and knees while still clutching the taser after having been ordered multiple times to let go of it. The officer, on top of Lyoya, relinquished his own grip on the taser, drew his pistol, and fired a shot into the back of Lyoya’s head. Lyoya literally died with the officer’s taser in his hand.
According to some accounts, the taser could fire two shots, and the second discharge was made sometime during the struggle following the first discharge. Even so, the taser could still be employed in “drive-stun” mode in which the end of the taser is pressed against a subject to deliver a shock. Moreover, the taser could have even been used as a blunt instrument—smack someone in the temple hard enough, and out go the lights. Had the officer’s taser successfully been turned against him, Lyoya would have had access to the officer’s gun.
It would appear that this was a totally justified shooting; for an expert video breakdown, check out the YouTube video by Donut Operator.
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