(Photo: Twitter/Bryce Huffman)
Civil rights figure Al Sharpton and attorney Ben Crump plan to speak this week at the funeral of Patrick Lyoya, the 26-year-old driver shot by a Grand Rapids police officer while trying to flee a traffic stop.
The service, open to the public, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in Renaissance Church of God in Christ on Grand Rapids' southeast side, which can seat 1,000 people and is less than three miles from the April 4 shooting site in the Eastern-Burton neighborhood.
WOOD-TV adds these details:
Lyoya will be eulogized by ... Sharpton, who gave the eulogy at the funeral for George Floyd.
Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack said Sharpton is paying for the funeral and will be one of the pastors presiding. ... Other speakers will include civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Womack and the family’s interpreter, Pastor Israel Siku. [The parents are from Central Africa and speak Swahili.]
Sharpton, a Baptist minister, talk show host and head of the nonprofit National Action Network, tweeted Sunday: "I will support the family of Patrick Lyola and attorney Crump with funeral and burial assistance, and I will stand with them in the fight for justice in Patrick's name."
Bishop Dennis McMurray, the church's senior pastor, also will to speak, acording to WZZM. Burial will follow at Garfield Cemetery in Grand Rapids.
Lyoya, whose death is being investigated by the Michigan State Police, is survived by parents Peter and Dorcas Lyoya, two daughters and four younger siblings, according to sister Blondine Lyoya of Lansing. She lauched a GoFundMe drive that has raised over $70,000 for the family from more than 1,500 donors.
The family came to the United States in 2014 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Earlier coverage:
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Anatomy of a police shooting: These factors will determine outcome of Grand Rapids death inquiries
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Low-value traffic stops: Grand Rapids driver wouldn't have been pulled over in some cities
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Family of Grand Rapids man slain by police expresses grief and asks for justice, peace
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What 4 candidates for Michigan governor say about deadly police shooting
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Video: Grand Rapids police show fatal shooting after traffic stop
