GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former Grand Rapids Police Division Officer Christopher Schurr testified Friday that he feared for his life when he shot and killed Patrick Lyoya at the back of the top throughout a wrestle.
He took the witness stand in his second-degree homicide trial in Kent County Circuit Courtroom, greater than three years after the capturing.
“I feel like it’s important to get my side of the story out,” he stated when his lawyer requested why he testified.
Updates from Day 5 of trial: Schurr takes the stand
He testified for 3 hours, taking a deep breath as his attorneys confirmed a video of the capturing and at one level showing to choke up. No person else may testify about his way of thinking that day; the concern he stated he felt as he and Lyoya fought over his Taser.
“If I had waited for him to point it at me, it would have been too late,” Schurr testified in regards to the battle over the Taser.
When requested what he was afraid of, he stated: “That he was going to use it on me and I was going to die.”
“So,” his protection lawyer requested, “what did you do next?”
“I shot him,” he stated. “I believe that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home.”
GRPD coaching officer: Shot to again of Lyoya’s head not ‘unreasonable’
Schurr was 31 when the capturing occurred and is now 34. He testified he was born and raised in Grand Rapids and his household nonetheless lives in West Michigan. He went to the police academy at Lansing Neighborhood School, saying he wished to be a police officer as a result of it might be “fulfilling” and he “got to help people.” He stated he married his highschool sweetheart about 10 years in the past.
He stated on a chilly, wet morning on April 4, 2022, he noticed a slow-moving Nissan on town’s Southeast Aspect that made an abrupt flip. He stated he could not see who was inside and by no means recognized the motive force. He ran the plate and located it was invalid, he stated, main him to tug over the automobile and strategy the motive force, Lyoya, who had already gotten out.
“He proceeds to run away from me,” he testified.
That led to a 2.5-minute tussle beginning on the street and resulting in entrance yards.
Lyoya pushed him away, he stated — committing a felony for resisting and assaulting a police officer.
Schurr stated there isn’t any division coverage in opposition to foot pursuits. He instructed the jury he had been concerned in 100 or so foot chases in his seven-year profession in Grand Rapids and as many as 40 on his personal, however had by no means fired his gun on responsibility.
“I was just trying to arrest him,” he stated.
The wrestle, he stated, rapidly exhausted him.
“I’m wondering why he’s fighting so hard,” he stated.
“One of the main reasons I brought the Taser into it is because I had no energy left to begin with, and then get into a struggle over it for I don’t know how long, and I’m running on fumes.”
Witness in homicide trial: Schurr created jeopardy that led to capturing of Lyoya
He stated he recalled firing the Taser as soon as as Lyoya grabbed for it. The shot failed.
“At this point, I’m afraid he’s going to get the Taser from me and use it on me.”
He stated he by no means seen that the Taser had fired a second time.
As he straddled Lyoya, he stated, Lyoya acquired management of his Taser in his proper hand.
“At some point I started feeling him turning towards me, and I feared he was going to use it on me,” he testified.
Underneath cross-examination, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker prompt Lyoya by no means tried to harm Schurr — that he by no means struck the officer and by no means threatened him.
“You’re not saying he did anything else but try to get away?” Becker requested him
“I wouldn’t use that blanket statement,” Schurr responded.
“He grabbed your Taser, he moved it away from him because he didn’t want to be Tased, right?” Becker requested.
“I don’t know what his intention was,” Schurr answered.
Patrick Lyoya household’s lawyer: ‘The truth is in the video’
Becker reminded Schurr of the assertion he wrote shortly after the capturing about Lyoya’s response to the Taser: that he had grabbed it and moved it away.
“So the only reason you did it was because he grabbed your Taser?” Becker requested.
“No, I shot him because I believed he was going to use it on me,” Schurr responded.
“Because he had your Taser,” Becker stated.
“Because I was afraid he was going to use it on me,” Schurr stated.
“But that’s the only thing he did was, he had possession of it. He never pointed it at you?” Becker requested.
Schurr: “He started turning towards me, and I felt if I didn’t respond at that time, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Sure,” Becker responded. “But he’s not here, is he?”
“No, he’s not,” Schurr stated.
An undated photograph of Patrick Lyoya courtesy household.
The final query for Schurr got here from a juror, learn by the choose.
“Why did you shoot Mr. Lyoya in the head?”
Schurr turned to the jury and answered: “I wouldn’t say that I was necessarily aiming, per se. I only had essentially a viewpoint of his upper back and head area. I deployed my handgun and fired it in that direction. It ended up hitting, striking his head.”
After Schurr, the protection known as two extra professional witnesses. One in all them, David Blake, testified about auditory exclusion. He defined that in high-stress conditions, folks could not be capable of hear the whole lot. The protection has prompt Schurr didn’t hear the Taser deploy the second time throughout his wrestle with Lyoya.
The protection then known as Lewis Kliem, an professional on police practices, insurance policies, ways and use of power. He disagreed with prosecution specialists who stated it was not affordable for Schurr to have shot Lyoya and rejected the concept of “generally accepted police practices” that an officer might be held to. Ways, he argued, are discretionary and there aren’t any excellent tactical options, solely choices that an officer should determine from based mostly on the variables of a state of affairs. He stated although the case is tragic, he has requested lots of of officers what they had been skilled to do if somebody had been to take their Taser and practically all stated they’d escalate to lethal power.
“What is particularly relevant in this case is that Mr. Lyoya did not simply take the weapon and throw it away. He took the weapon, transitioned hands and held it in a position capable of being utilized, which is is the simple trigger press,” Kliem stated.
The prosecutor was nonetheless cross-examining Kliem when court docket broke for the day. Testimony was anticipated to renew at 9 a.m. Monday.
—Information 8’s Brittany Flowers contributed to this report.
