News / Human Rights

Anger, call for justice dominate funeral of Black man killed by US police

Saturday, 23 April 2022 6:59 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 23 April 2022 7:34 AM ]

Peter and Dorcas Lyoya, parents of Patrick Lyoya, march with their family and supporters wearing all black on Thursday, April 21, 2022 for a rally at the Capitol in Lansing, Mich. to demand justice in the police shooting that took the life of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant. (Photo by AP)

Angry mourners have demanded justice at the funeral of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, who was shot and killed by Michigan police.

US civil rights leader Al Sharpton asked justice officials to identify publicly the guilty officer who fatally shot Lyoya in the back of the head this month.

“We want his name!” Sharpton told the church packed with hundreds of mourners, including Lyoya's family and the families of other Black victims of police violence. "This cannot end today... We got to fight for him," he

Four videos released by US police from the incident show Lyoya was shot in the head while the officer was lying on top of him.

According to authorities, the officer is on paid leave while state police investigate whether to bring charges.

“Every time a young Black man or woman is arrested in this town, you put their name all over the news. Every time we’re suspected of something, you put our name out there,” Sharpton said. “How dare you hold the name of a man that killed this man? We want his name!”

Black man shot in back of head by Michigan police, independent autopsy says

A Black man who was killed by a Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officer during a traffic stop earlier this month was shot in the back of the head, a forensic pathologist who performed an independent autopsy said on Tuesday.

Lyoya's death is the latest in a series of Black killings by US police that have sparked a wave of justice and anti-racism protests in recent years.

Since the killing of George Floyd by a US police officer in 2020, which caused widespread protests in the United States and around the world, the demand for litigation and the fight against racism in the United States has increased.

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