Grand Rapids, Mitch. – The trial of the Michigan police officer accused of killing a 26 -year -old black black is about to begin in Grand Rapids, three years after protesting a few weeks of protest and national anger.
Patrick Lohan, a Congolese migrant who sought refuge with his family in the United States to escape violence in his own country, was severely shot dead by former Officer Christopher start.
Loya was shot behind the head after the traffic stop. Shur Atornis argued that he played in self -defense.
The inaugural statement of the trial begins in the Grand Rapids in the suburbs on Monday and the trial is expected to continue for at least a week.
What to know here.
Grand Rapids began to start a vehicle driven by a lover over a license plate on a rainy morning on April 7, 2022.
Body camera footage and dash camera footage showed that the officer runs a loa from the beginning after asking for his driver’s license. Shur Loya dealt with Loya and tried to shoot his teaser in Loya and began a struggle.
The footage of the shore body camera is seen to reach the officer’s teaser in the footage of the camera. Body camera footage goes out before the shooting.
A passenger of the vehicle recorded a video. Cellphone footage shows the officer Loya to leave the teaser multiple times.
When Loya is facing the ground and the start is at its top, the officer took out his firearm and shot Loya on the back of the head.
The lower family said that he came to the United States to move away from the prolonged citizen unrest in the mineral -rich Eastern Congo region. He was raising two children in Grand Rapids, a city of about 200,000 people located about one and a half miles (240 km) to the north -west of Detroit.
After escaping the violence in the country, Loya eventually joined the list of black immigrants who wanted better life in the United States to be tortured or death only by law enforcement.
Prior to him, Botham Jin, Amadou Delo and Aban Luima were there, all men whose cases raised awareness of the global impact of systemic racism in policing.
Civil Right Leader Reva: Al Sharpton, who praised Loya at his funeral in his 20222, mentioned that Reva of 668.
The Lower Massacre encouraged several weeks in West Michigan City and called for the police department to reform.
Shutra was dismissed by the police department shortly after he was accused of a second-degree murder count in June 2022.
He worked for a seven -year section.
Shur says he has acted in self -defense and prosecutors say that the use of severe energy was unnecessary and extra. When convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
The role of the teaser can play an important role in the defense of the start. Prosecutors have argued that the teaser was already deployed and therefore did not create a threat to the beginning.
Ian Adams, a professor at Criminology at the University of South Carolina, says that although the teasers are usually non-inflammatory, the narrative is often reversed.
Adams said it would probably be noticeable to the jury whether Shir had given proper warning about his lethal power.
Adams said, “In the video you can hear the officer say, ‘drop the teaser’ which is an order,” said Adams. “But if it is a warning that any officer is about to use deadly power is going to be a rivalry.”
Adams said, “This is a very important case in US policing now.
Charles Joe Key, who testified as a consultant witness in the use of police in various Michigan cases, said that the teaser could still cause pain and disable the beginning even after leaving it. What was expected that the physical struggle was appointed by both of them, perhaps another reason for the defense of the beginning.
“To leave the person in terms of the officer’s continued effort, leave Tasar, etc., but for this officer it will be a reasonable analysis that the person will continue to fight,” what said.
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Fernanda Figuiero, the Associated Press Writer in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
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