The disturbance broke out after police released images showing the officer shooting a black immigrant in the head.
Protesters gathered in the city of Grand Rapids, in the U.S. state of Michigan, on Wednesday night after local police released images of the killing of a black man by a white police officer.
The officer, whose name has not been released, shot Patrick Lyoya in the head following a traffic stop last April 4. Footage of the incident shows the officer lying on top of Lyoya as the two men seem to struggle. The video also shows the white officer shooting the 26-year-old black man in the head.
In response to those images, several hundred protesters, some carrying "Black Lives Matter" signs, gathered in front of the Police Department and demanded that the name of the officer who shot Lyoya and caused his death be released.
The shooting took place in front of the victim's home. The officer initially pulled Lyoya over for driving with plates that did not belong to the vehicle.
This cop went WAY over for an invalid
— AMUNRA (@AMUNRA46008328) April 15, 2022
registration! This could have been prevented.
The officer couldn't even hit him TWICE with a
taser but shoots him point blank in the BACK of
his head while he is physically restrained! The #PatrickLyoya #GRPD #RestInPeace pic.twitter.com/NcGyncKmq5
One of the videos shows the man running away from the officer before they begin to struggle on the ground. New Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said the two men had been fighting over the officer's Taser.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer after speaking with Lyoya's family said: "He came to the United States as a refugee with his family fleeing violence. He had his whole life ahead of him".
Police violence against blacks in the U.S. has received more serious attention in recent years, especially after the killing of George Floyd by police officer Derrick Chauvin in 2020.
Such incident sparked some of the largest protests in modern U.S. history and eventually spread around the world.