(WWJ) The Kent County Prosecutor announced Thursday morning he will not retry a former Grand Rapids police officer who shot and killed a driver during a struggle following a traffic stop.
The decision by Prosecutor Chris Becker was made two weeks after a mistrial was declared in the trial of Christopher Schurr who was charged with second degree murder in the April 4, 2022 shooting of Patrick Lyoya.
"I'll cut right to the chase, I've made the decision not to seek a retrial in the case of Christopher Schurr," Becker said. "I know this is an extremely difficult decision, I spoke with Peter (Patrick's father) about a half hour ago and obviously he's very disappointed in that decision and I know there's many members of the community that are disappointed in that decision."
Becker said he thought he presented a good case and he wouldn't be able to change anything in a second trial.
He said jurors were leaning 10-2 not guilty when the hung jury was declared May 8th.
The killing of Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant and father of two, sparked weeks of protest in Grand Rapids, especially after the city’s police chief released video of the confrontation.
“It hurts my family, my wife. We are bleeding. We are in pain,” Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, said of the hung jury, speaking through an interpreter. “We’ll continue to fight until we get true justice for Patrick.”
The shooting happened on April 4, 2022, when Schurr, who was patrolling alone, stopped a Nissan Altima for improper license plates and requested Lyoya’s driver’s license.
Body camera and dash camera footage showed Lyoya running and the officer tackling him. They struggled and the officer wasn’t able to subdue Lyoya with a Taser, which Lyoya was able to grab. Schurr repeatedly demanded he stop resisting and drop the Taser, then fired one bullet into his head.
Schurr testified he was “running on fumes” after the fight and in great fear because a Taser can cause “excruciating pain.”
“I believed that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” Schurr said of shooting Lyoya.
The prosecutor, however, argued that the Taser had already been deployed twice by Schurr and could only be used in a different mode if Lyoya had decided to turn it against the officer.
With Thursday's announcement from Becker, the case is considered closed.
The family of Lyoya currently has a wrongful death lawsuit pending against Schurr and the city of Grand Rapids.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.