Christopher Schurr took the stand in his own defense Friday morning in a Kent County courtroom. It's the first time the former Grand Rapids police officer has spoken publicly about how he shot and killed Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in 2022.
Schurr is charged with second degree murder and was fired from the police force.
He told jurors he was exhausted and “running on fumes” after a foot chase and a struggle with Lyoya over his taser. Schurr said he attempted knee strikes, authoritative commands, and called for backup during the struggle before deciding he needed to use his taser to “interrupt muscle function.”
“Nothing about his body actions are suggesting he’s trying to comply,” Schurr said in response to his attorney Mark Dodge’s questions. “I tackle him and he’s able to get up again pretty quick.”
Schurr said he’s been in foot chases before, and that usually if people are caught they give up pretty quickly.
“I really don’t know what he’s — I feel like there’s something more going on, that’s what I’m thinking,” Schurr said.
Schurr said Lyoya was able to turn and face him when he used one hand to get the taser out of its holster. Schurr said he fired one of the taser’s probes but didn't realize the second and final probe had also been deployed when Lyoya grabbed at the taser.
“I saw him have full control of the taser,” Schurr said, adding he’s “extremely stressed” at this point. He said he’s never had a struggle over a weapon before.
“I was reaching over top of him in an attempt to shut it off in the hope he wouldn’t be able to use it on me,” Schurr said.
“At some point I start to feel him turning towards me and I fear he’s going to use it on me.”
“So what did you do next?” Dodge asked.
“I shot him,” Schurr responded.
“Why?”
“I believe that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home.”
Schurr said he’d “never been that exhausted” and that he’d drawn his weapon in the field hundreds of times but never fired it.
“Did you want to shoot Patrick Lyoya?” Dodge asked.
“No,” Schurr responded.
“Were you mad at Patrick Lyoya?” Dodge asked.
"No," Schurr said.
“Did you plead with Patrick Lyoya to drop your weapon?” his attorney asked.
“I did.”
Schurr wiped at his eyes as prosecutor Chris Becker prepared to cross-examine him.
Becker confronted him with earlier reports Schurr wrote about the incident, challenging whether Lyoya posed a threat, or whether he was simply trying to escape.
“On two separate occasions you said, he’s moving his arms and legs to try and get away from you,” Becker said.
“Yeah, I mean …”
“He didn’t assault you.”
“Well, he did.”
Becker played back videos of the struggle, which have been shown to jurors multiple times throughout the week. He questioned Schurr on why he would chase Lyoya when he had no backup and Lyoya was bigger. Schurr said the expectation within GRPD is that he would make the arrest, not let the suspect flee.
Becker said as the struggle continued, Lyoya never punched or kicked at Schurr. He seemed to be trying to get away. And while Lyoya grabbed at Schurr’s taser, he never tried to use it.
“When it comes down to the time that you fired the shot, you can’t even say that Patrick pointed the taser at you, can you?”
“No, he didn’t … “
“He never pointed the taser at you?”
“No.”
“You thought he might.”
“Correct,” Schurr said. “I felt as though he was turning towards me with it.”
There’s no dispute in the case whether Schurr’s bullet caused Lyoya’s death. Schurr’s only defense is that he feared for his life when he fired, and was acting in self defense. Jurors will have to decide whether that was a reasonable enough fear to justify the killing.
Throughout the trial, Schurr’s defense attorneys have emphasized his level of exhaustion. They called an expert witness to tell jurors how physical fights deplete the body, causing a person to eventually reach the point where they can’t do anything at all. Defense attorneys have played and replayed sections of the video where Schurr appears out of breath, and heaves for more air.
Schurr said he was afraid that if Lyoya tased him, Lyoya could take his gun and shoot him with it. So he acted even while Lyoya was face down, before he had the chance to threaten him with it.
But to Becker, the prosecutor, that was a threat that never existed, because Lyoya wasn’t trying to harm Schurr. He was trying to escape.
Defense attorneys have shown jurors a closeup of the cell phone video of the struggle that appears to show Lyoya did have sole possession of the taser while he was on the ground before being shot.
“But that’s the only thing he did with it, he had possession of it,” Becker asked Schurr. “He never pointed at you?”
“He started to turn towards me,” Schurr said. “And I felt if I didn’t respond at that time, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Sure,” Becker responded. “And he’s not here is he?”
“No, he’s not.”
“I have nothing further your honor,” Becker said, ending his cross examination.
Following the questions from the two attorneys, 17th Circuit Court Judge Christina Mims allowed jurors to ask their own questions. As they’ve been able to do with previous witnesses in the case, jurors raised their hands, then wrote questions down on a piece of paper. Mims showed the questions to attorneys from both sides before asking them out loud in court.
Jurors asked about the safety switch on the taser, which Schurr said he attempted to turn on while the taser was in Lyoya’s hand. Schurr said he was unable to switch the safety back on.
They also asked about whether Schurr could have used his taser earlier in the incident, and whether he smelled alcohol on Lyoya. Lyoya’s autopsy showed he had alcohol level in his blood above the legal limit for driving.
One juror asked Schurr why he shot Lyoya in the head.
“I wouldn’t say that I was necessarily aiming per se,” Schurr said on the stand. “I only had essentially a viewpoint of his upper back and head area. I deployed my hand gun and fired it in that direction. It ended up hitting and striking his head.”
After Schurr’s testimony, the trial broke for lunch. Then Schurr’s attorneys called another witness, a consultant on police practices.
