KENT COUNTY, Mich. – The prosecution continued to call witnesses on day two of the trial in the death of Patrick Lyoya.
Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids Police Officer during a traffic stop in April 2022.
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The former officer, Christopher Schurr, is charged with second-degree Murder in Lyoya’s death.
Tuesday’s testimonies focused on experts, as opposed to witnesses who recalled the events from their perspective.
Previous coverage: Ex-officer’s murder trial in death of Patrick Lyoya -- Here’s what happened on Day 1
Taser expert testifies
A taser expert testified in court on Tuesday, explaining to the jury how the tool works. He testified that a taser, especially the taser used before the 2022 shooting, is classified as a “serious weapon.”
The training video on how to use the taser that’s shown to police officers was presented in court. The video demonstrated how to use a taser and used a mannequin as the target. The training video highlights that the taser can reach a person from a greater distance, giving the officer some space for safety.
Prosecutors also went through the slideshow that’s required to be presented to officers in training on why using a taser is important, along with the risks.
The expert testified the weapon is pretty effective but can be less effective for people who have pre-existing medical conditions causing numbing in the body or are drunk.
Law professor, former police officer testifies
Seth W. Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, testified his knowledge on police use of force in court immediately after the taser expert.
Prior to being a professor, he worked as an officer at the Tallahassee Police Department.
He reviewed the case involving Schurr in the 2022 shooting, and has expert knowledge about “officer-created jeopardy.”
Prosecutors submitted Stoughton as an expert in the case, but the defense argued prosecutors could “confuse the jury completely by letting professor Stoughton give opinions about things that, based on this theory.”
Generally accepted police practices, use of force
He went on to discuss “generally accepted police practices” and what he believed were the reasons Schurr chose the actions he did during the traffic stop. Stoughton said it was reasonable for Schurr to pull over Lyoya and attempt to grab him, but chasing him was unreasonable. Since there was another person in Lyoya’s car, Schurr was exposing himself to risk and it would have been safer to question the person inside the car.
Stoughton also testified that Schurr should have given Lyoya a warning about the use of lethal force beforehand and that “he had time to do so.”
When asked if a reasonable officer in a similar situation would have made the decision to pull the trigger, Stoughton said “no.”
When asked if he felt Schurr was responding to an imminent threat, Stoughton answered that he didn’t think so, “not one that justified a use of deadly force.”
Questions of bias
The defense asked Stoughton if he remembered an interview he did with WOOD-TV about Lyoya’s death shortly after he was killed. The defense called attention to a book presented on a shelf behind him during his interview, “Evaluating Police Uses of Force,” and claimed Stoughton wanted to bring attention to the book he wrote.
The defense asked what Stoughton knew about confirmation bias before asking if he had formed his opinion on Lyoya’s death before the April 2022 interview with WOOD-TV and has since sought evidence to support his prior opinion.
Stoughton testified that that wasn’t the case and that the new information just caused him to maintain his original opinion, and there were multiple times when his opinion on cases had changed as more evidence was revealed.
“The additional evidence did not call into question or lead me to draw a different conclusion about the specific tactical aspects that I talked about in that interview,” Stoughton said.
“No reasonable officer?”
When asked if he really believed that “no reasonable officer” would have pursued Lyoya, Stoughton said letting someone flee for an improper license plate is better than “getting into a fight and losing.”
Stoughton said Schurr chased after Lyoya and left the passenger in the car. The passenger went on to get out of the car and began filming the altercation.
“The reason why that’s unreasonable is because if he had gotten out with a gun and shot the officer in the back of the head, he would not see that coming,” Stoughton said. “That is one of several reasons why you do not do exactly what we just saw.”
When asked if Schurr was at a tactical advantage during his altercation with Lyoya, Stoughton said Schurr was never at a disadvantage.
