A Grand Rapids police officer fatally shot Lyoya in the back of the head while he was facedown on the ground on April 4, 2022.
The family of Patrick Lyoya held his funeral Friday, April 22, at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The police officer said the license plate did not match the car Lyoya was driving. When the officer pulled him over for allegedly driving with an unregistered license plate, Lyoya did not follow the police officer’s order to get back into the vehicle. Then a short foot chase ensued before the officer struggled with his taser and then fatally shot Lyoya. He was 26.
Lyoya’s death sparked days of protest in Grand Rapids.
Sharpton also called on investigators to release the officer’s name. Grand Rapids Police Department Police said the agency stated it would not reveal the officer’s identity without a charge.
Patrick Lyoya, Lyoya’s father, invited civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton to speak at his son’s service.
Sharpton called on the 1,500 people attending and outside the funeral service to demand justice for Lyoya and national police reform. Sharpton said Lyoya’s death is further evidence of the urgent need for a referendum on police reform in part through the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids Office of Oversight and Public Accountability Director Brandon Davis, City Manager Mark Washington, and U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, attended the funeral.
Several demonstrators wore shirts that read “It is our right to live!” on the front and “Justice for Patrick Lyoya” on the back.
“I come to be with him, the mother and Patrick’s two children to tell you that this cannot end today,” Sharpton said. “We can’t bring Patrick back, but we can bring justice in Patrick’s name.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the Lyoya family.
“We are here to support the family through this difficult time; Nobody expects their child to be taken from them before they are buried,” Crump said. “But to have them [their children] taken by the person who is supposed to protect and serve them is a different trauma.”
Sharpton also called on investigators to release the officer’s name. Grand Rapids Police Department Police said the agency stated it would not reveal the officer’s identity without a charge.
Lyoya and his family came to the U.S. as refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was 18 in 2014. Lyoya had two daughters.
“Patrick came here looking for a better life and ran into an America that we know too well,” Sharpton said. “We will not stop till we change this country. We will not stop till we turn this country around. We built this country; we made it the richest country in the world. You are going to get justice. You are going to turn this country around.”
Sharpton called on federal authorities to launch a civil rights inquiry.
“We don’t want local politics to compromise justice,” Sharpton said. “We are calling the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene and stand up for the civil rights of Patrick Lyoya.”
The police agency forwarded the findings to Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker for investigation and will decide whether the officer’s use of force was lawful or whether charges should be issued. Becker said the decision would not be quick.
In Lyoya’s case, his family arrived as refugees in America in 2014 after they escaped war and fear of persecution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and after more than a decade in a refugee camp, they seemed to have finally found a haven in Michigan.
Pastor at Restoration Community Church, Banza Mukalay, a Congolese refugee, said that when he met Lyoya, he said he saw potential.
“He was a young [man] who had the future. He had something in it,” Mukalay said. “You [could] see him just trying to look for himself how he [could] be better in the future.”
After living in a refugee camp for 11 years, Robert Womack, a Kent County Board of Commissioners in Grand Rapids member, said the Lyoya family won asylum to live in the U.S. as part of a wave of refugees settling in Michigan from Congo.
Womack said Lyoya’s death is particularly painful for Grand Rapids’ Congolese population, a community seeking refuge after fleeing some of the most violent environments in the world.
“The difference between the Congolese families and some of the African American families who have been affected by state violence is Congolese families are hurt and shocked this could happen in the United States of America,” said Womack. “When I deal with African American families, they are hurt and mad, but never shocked.”
“I thought that we came to a safe land, a haven, a safe place,” said Dorcas Lyoya, Lyoya’s mother, said. “I am astonished to see it is here that my son has been killed.”
