Ben Crump Doesn't Get It: the Purpose of Bodycam is to Convict Black People, Not to Prosecute Cops. MI Police Want to Keep Video of Patrick Lyoya's Deadly Arrest a Public Secret As Long They Can

April 12, 2022 Tron Nick

Imagine if police departments across the nation sought funding for a new program described as follows: "We propose a video surveillance program targeted toward heavily patrolled low-income neighborhoods of color in ordeR to gather evidence of crimes such as drug possession, vandalism, and resisting arrest. We will primarily use this evidence to prosecute criminal cases against civilians - not police officers - withholding it from defendants to encourage pleas, and allowing access only to those who take the risk of going to trial. The public and the media wilL rarely, if ever, gain access to these videos, and we will release them at our unilateral discretion; we will, of course, own and control all the footage." If this were the avowed purpose and description of a program, few would support it. Yet this is precisely how most police body camera programs are currently run.

From [HERE ]NAACP Greater Grand Rapids Branch officials are demanding Grand Rapids police immediately release all footage surrounding the fatal shooting Monday of a 26-year-old man by a city police officer.

“The public deserves to have the footage released immediately,” Cle Jackson, president of NAACP Grand Rapids, said Wednesday, April 6.

Grand Rapids city officials previously told reporters that video of the fatal encounter between a GRPD officer and the man killed, Patrick Lyoya, was expected to be released early next week – much later than community leaders like NAACP and others want.

An immediate release of any video, city officials previously said, would go against protocols giving the officer 72 hours to give a statement.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom previously said he wants to give state police, which are investigating the shooting, enough time to collect and review all video of the incident before making anything public.

The chief said he is “committed to providing information as transparently and quickly as the investigation allows.”

Jackson said Winstrom is not obligated nor required to wait for Michigan State Police to finish their investigation into the shooting before releasing any footage of the incident.

He said his organization is demanding “full transparency and cooperation” from the GRPD and other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation into the deadly shooting.

The deadly police shooting happened around 8:10 a.m. Monday, April 4, when an officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle near Griggs Street SE and Nelson Avenue.

GRPD officials said Monday that what circumstances led to the traffic stop aren’t clear at this time but that the vehicle had a license plate that wasn’t registered to it.

Lyoya, who was the driver, exited the vehicle and interacted with the officer but began to flee when he learned he was about to be arrested, police said.

A fight ensued between the officer and Lyoya, and the officer fired his weapon, killing Lyoya. The chief previously said the fight is believed to have lasted around 90 seconds to two minutes.

Police identified Lyoya, who is Black, Tuesday evening. The officer who killed Lyoya has not been named, but officials said he is white and has been with the department since 2015.

The officer was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. The practice is standard protocol.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the incident was caught on video. The officer’s body camera became dislodged and fell onto the ground during the fight. It was still operating while on the ground.

Officials have not said the extent of video captured by the dash camera on the officer’s vehicle.

“Again, we are demanding the immediate release of any body camera footage or other video surveillance tools used in this incident,” Jackson said.