Michigan officer on trial tells jurors he feared for his life before killing African immigrant

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan police officer who killed a man with a shot to the back of the head testified in his own defense Friday, telling jurors at his second-degree murder trial that he was “running on fumes” and fearing for his life after losing his Taser during an intense fight.

“I believed that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” said Christopher Schurr, who fired the single fatal shot as he pinned Patrick Lyoya facedown on the ground in an effort to subdue him.

Schurr, 34, wiped his eyes and sniffed as video from that day was played for the jurors. His testimony was his first public explanation of what happened following a routine traffic stop on a cold, rainy spring morning in Grand Rapids in 2022.

The shooting stunned the public after the Grand Rapids police chief released video of the killing, which was recorded by a man who was accompanying Lyoya that day. There also was police car video and images from Schurr’s body camera.

Schurr told the jury that it was “important to get my side of the story out.”

Jurors must decide whether Schurr, who was patrolling alone, could have reasonably feared that he could suffer great bodily harm or be killed after Lyoya got control of his Taser, a weapon that fires electrically charged probes to temporarily subdue an aggressor.

Lyoya, a Black man, failed to produce a driver’s license after Schurr pulled him over for driving a car with a mismatched license plate. Then he ran, and the officer chased and tackled him. As they physically struggled to exhaustion for more than two minutes, Schurr was heard desperately asking for officers to rush to the scene.

“I’m running on fumes,” he explained to the jury.

Video shows the confrontation finally ended when Schurr fired into Lyoya’s head after repeatedly demanding that Lyoya stop resisting and give up the Taser, which the officer had lost control of in the fight.

It’s not known why Lyoya was trying to flee. Records show his driver’s license was revoked at the time and there was an arrest warrant for him in a domestic violence case, though Schurr didn’t know it. An autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for driving, according to testimony.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Chris Becker tried to highlight inconsistencies between Schurr’s testimony and his statements to investigators three years ago, particularly his physical condition at the time.

Becker also noted that the officer was on top of Lyoya before the fatal shot, suggesting that he had an advantage.

“He never said he was going to kill you, right? Never said he was going to hit you. Never said he was going to kick your butt or do anything bad to you,” the prosecutor said.

Schurr earlier testified that he had a Taser used on him during police training and knew it could cause “excruciating pain.”

“I shot him because I believed he was going to use it on me,” Schurr told Becker. “He started to turn up towards me. I felt if I didn’t respond at that time, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Sure, but he’s not here, is he?” Becker shot back, referring to Lyoya’s death.

“No, he’s not,” Schurr replied.

Outside the courthouse Friday, a crowd waved “thin blue line” flags in support of Schurr while standing along a busy downtown street. Inside, his wife sat in a front row of the courtroom while Lyoya’s parents, who brought their family to the U.S. from Congo in 2014, sat in a front row on the opposite side.

The jury late in the day also heard testimony from Lewis “Von” Kliem, a lawyer and former officer who analyzes instances of force across the U.S. He said Schurr’s decision to shoot Lyoya can be seen as reasonable “as tragic as it is.”

“What is particularly relevant is that Mr. Lyoya did not just take the (Taser) and throw it away. He took the weapon, transitioned hands and held it in a position capable of being utilized,” said Kliem, a defense witness.

Schurr was fired by city officials at the recommendation of police Chief Eric Winstrom after he was charged in 2022. At the time, Winstrom said his recommendation was based on video of the encounter, the prosecutor’s review of a state police investigation and Schurr’s interview with internal investigators.

The trial has mostly been a battle of experts.

Use-of-force experts testifying for the prosecutor said deadly force was not necessary to end the conflict. But several senior Grand Rapids officers, summoned by defense lawyers, said Schurr was at great risk when Lyoya got ahold of the Taser.

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White reported from Detroit.