In a press conference simultaneously translated into their native Swahili, the parents of Patrick Lyoya, the Congolese immigrant shot to death by police during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids last week, expressed their grief and asked for justice for his death.
Video shows the struggle between Patrick Lyoya and a Grand Rapids police officer April 4.
Dorcas Lyoya, Patrick's mother, said their family moved to the U.S. to escape war in their native land.
"I am deeply hurt and wounded," she said. "All the mothers here know the pain we go through to give birth, and as a parent I thought he would be the one to bury me. I am surprised and astonished that it was here that my son has been killed with a bullet."
Peter Lyoya, his father, shared similar sentiments: "My life was Patrick, my son. And to see that my son has been killed like an animal by this police officer, I see my heart be broken. I am asking for justice."
Patrick Lyoya died the morning of April 4 when a traffic stop for a license plate that didn't match the car he was driving, escalated into a struggle with a Grand Rapids police officer, as yet unnamed. The men grappled over a stun gun before the officer pulled his weapon and shot Lyoya once in the head.
Patrick Lyoya (Family photo, via Ben Crump Law)
Also at Thursday's press conference were the family's lawyers, including Detroit personal injury attorney Ven Johnson, and Ben Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd, killed in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer. Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, shot to death by police in Louisville, Ky. in 2020, also attended.
"I know what it's like to lose your 26-year-old child," Palmer told the Lyoyas.
Crump said the family was demanding justice, and accused the Grand Rapids officer of "escalating a minor traffic stop into a deadly execution. This is an execution, there's no way to spin it."
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