The grieving parents of the black man shot in the back of the head by a white Michigan police officer described his son’s death as an “execution.”
Patrick Lioja, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, was killed after traffic jams in Grand Rapids on April 4th.
“I didn’t believe … there was genocide in this country,” his father, Peter Lioja, told an interpreter on Thursday. “I didn’t know that here in America, there could be a style of execution … being killed by a police officer.
The Lioja family came to the United States fleeing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014. Patrick, a factory worker, was the eldest of six children and had two young daughters.
A video released by the Grand Rapids police chief on Wednesday shows a brief chase on a residential street after Lioja escaped from a police officer who stopped him for driving with a license plate that did not belong to the vehicle. They are shown briefly fighting over the officer’s taser before he apparently shot Lioja in the back of the head while kneeling on his back.
“[It] I cried when I saw my son killed by a police officer for a small mistake, “said Peter Lioya. “My heart was really broken… My life was Patrick, my son. I thought Patrick would take my place. And to see that my son was killed like an animal by this policeman. “
The family’s lawyers said the policeman should be tried, fired and named. Patrick’s brothers and sisters want to know who killed him and would like to see a picture of him so they can understand that “this is the man who took our loved one,” Peter said.
The officer was placed on paid leave with his police powers terminated while Michigan State Police conducted a criminal investigation. Police chiefs said he would not be publicly identified unless there were criminal charges.
A rally will be held in Grand Rapids on Friday as protests in support of the family’s call for justice escalated after the video was released. But prosecutor Chris Becker, who will decide whether charges have been filed against the seven-year veteran officer and has objected to the release, said he did not expect a quick solution.
Grand Rapids is a small town of about 200,000 people, located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, where, like many places in the United States, police face criticism of the use of excessive force, especially against blacks, who make up 18% of the population.
At a news conference at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Lioya’s parents explained that they had sought refuge in the United States, seeking safety after years of civil unrest and domestic violence in the Eastern Congo.
“We were told that there is peace in America, there is security, you will not see more murders, that this is actually a safe haven,” his mother Dorcas Lioja told Free Press through an interpreter. “What’s so surprising?” [the man] the one who shot my son must protect us.
“This was my favorite son. “You know how much you love your firstborn son,” she said.
The family was accompanied by their lawyers and the mother of Breona Taylor, a black woman and a native of Grand Rapids, who was shot dead at her home by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020.
“The video shows us that this is what his mother and father said – execution. And there is no way to turn it around or justify it, “said Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer who represented several victims of police violence while Patrick’s parents cried. “This is an unjustified use of deadly force because the police are escalating the stoppage of traffic during the execution.”
Crump said the officer could have waited for reinforcements when Lioya fled, but instead became “violent.”
He accused the unidentified officer of violating the protocol by using an electric shock while he was near Lioja, adding that it was a “natural instinct” for Lioja to try to avoid being stunned. “There was no reason for that [the officer] to have some intimate fear of using Taser against him, “Crump said.
The Lioja family first fled the DRC in Malawi, where they were granted asylum to live in the United States. In recent years, Congolese have become the largest group to settle in Michigan, outpacing refugees from the Middle East after Donald Trump made it virtually impossible for Arabs and Muslims to seek refuge in the United States.
Family lawyers have highlighted the language barriers that Congolese and others face when working with the police.
“We condemn Russian soldiers for shooting civilians in the back of Ukraine,” Crump said. “Why don’t we condemn police officers here in the United States who shoot black civilians in the back of the head?” If it’s wrong in Ukraine … it’s wrong in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “
Dorcas described his eldest son as a man who “would like you to be around” and said he often made her laugh.
Funeral details are expected soon. “As a parent, I thought maybe my son would bury me, help me with my funeral,” Dorcas said. “But it’s amazing. I’m the one burying my son.”
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