Will Killer-Cop Who Murdered Patrick Lyoya Be Charged Now Given Autopsy Results?

Photos: Twitter\Screenshot\Grand Rapids Police

An independent autopsy has just confirmed what many of us already knew about the recent death of Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya by the hands of a Michigan cop: he was killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head—as he lay face down on the ground.

Will this white killer-cop who murdered Lyoya now be justly charged and identified?

“There’s no question what killed this young man. …It was a powerful bullet to the head,” said pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz Tuesday, at a press conference with the family of Patrick Lyoya. Dr. Spitz was brought in by the family to do an independent autopsy. Legendary forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden is said to be also involved in this autopsy finding.

The state’s autopsy report has not been released, even though that autopsy has already been done.

“We can confirm that Patrick Lyoya was shot in the back of the head,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said. “That is now scientific evidence of this tragic killing and what this family believes was an execution.”

The murder of Lyoya was an execution. The tape we all saw tells us this.

There are two primary questions now. Will there be justice in this clear case of murder? How long must we wait for it?

It is an absolute outrage that Police Chief Eric Winstrom has not released the name of this murderer and has said he won’t do so unless the unknown white killer-cop is charged. Here we see police aiding-and-abetting murderers in their midst.

This cop would’ve been fired from day one if we had leaders who really believed in real justice. No amount of spin can justify what we witnessed on the bystander video tape. This criminal cop escalated a minor issue into the bloody police murder of yet another Black man.

American policing is very prolific at ending Black lives.

A crucial aspect of this killing is the obvious deliberate attempt of this officer to coverup his cold-blooded crime by apparently turning off his body-camera, just before firing the fatal kill-shot. If not for the bystander video, we would be hearing some lie about how Lyoya got shot to death in the back of the head because the officer feared for his life. We may still hear that.

The Grand Rapids community has marched and protested for the past week and there has been no accountability at all by the local authorities, and little transparency. Their obstructionist behavior in the aftermath of this murder tells us exactly why police officials cannot be trusted to police themselves.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker has acknowledged that his office has been deluged with calls with many demanding justice, and others asking for this killer to be exonerated.

“The front desk receptionist is probably pulling her hair out,” Becker said Tuesday. “I want to do the right thing. But I realize even if I do the right thing, there is a segment of the population that is not going to be happy.”

Prosecutor Becker should be concerned only with doing the right thing, not with what white police apologists are saying. In this case, that means this killer who is hiding behind a badge should be charged with murder.

If Lyoya had killed this officer—with a bullet to the back of the head—would he not be sitting in jail right now, assuming he wasn’t shot dead by police? Would there be any need for further investigations before charging him?

No prosecutor, who really believes in upholding the law, can seriously consider turning a blind eye to an obvious criminal act of murder like this, especially when it is done by someone who is operating under the “color of law.”

We’re now being told a decision about whether to prosecute will be made when the state police is finished with their investigation. Unfortunately, we should not be surprised if this “investigation” drags on to help this criminal cop manufacture a rationale for this murder that he committed.

However, we should let the Grand Rapids authorities know this: no amount of investigation can justify what this unknown cop did to Patrick Lyoya. Nothing can.

What we saw was murder plain and simple.

And those, like Chief Winstrom, who’re pretending not to know this are just as bad as the murderer they are now shielding and protecting from facing justice for taking the life of Patrick Lyoya.