Grand Rapids Reporter

The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) has released video of last week's shooting that rocked the community.

GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom said that he released the video, which shows a physical altercation between a police officer and Patrick Lyoya on April 4, that culminates in Lyoya being fatally shot.

"Because of the sensitive and graphic content of the video, the footage will stream as part of tomorrow's presentation on the City's YouTube channel with age restrictions in place," Winstrom said in a Facebook post. "The video contains strong language as well as graphic images resulting in the loss of life. Viewer discretion is advised. Following the press conference, we will provide a public link with the nine source videos that were used to compile the presentation video."

Winstrom added that the video was released to the public to safeguard the veracity of the investigation "in the interests of justice and accountability" and that the Michigan State Police and the Kent County prosecutor were aware of his intentions.

"I am committed to providing information as transparently and quickly as the investigation allows," the chief said in a City of Grand Rapids news release last week. "In addition to MSP's investigation, this has been referred to our Internal Affairs unit for a full review."

"After this investigation is concluded, (we) will do a post-incident review of the City's actions and consider concerns like how much time it took to release the video of this incident," Office of Oversight and Public Accountability Director Brandon Davis said during a Wednesday news conference.

Davis added that he was committed to reviewing a number of policies that are prompting community concerns, such as de-escalation and any other questions that might arise from the investigation.

"However, the most important thing for my office to do is to monitor this investigation to ensure that there is truth and accountability," he said in the video.

"These types of incidents are tragic and traumatic for everyone involved," Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington said in the release. "While it has been a very long time since our community was forced to navigate a situation such as this, we've done the work up front to establish policies and procedures that ensure a transparent and just process."

"My prayers go out to everyone impacted by (the recent) incident," Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said in the release. "These situations are tragic and can be traumatizing. We have more questions than answers at this point, but we also have the systems in place to respond. I understand how emotional this is and recognize the frustrations many in our community might feel. I ask everyone in our community to respect the process and allow the investigators to do their work before reaching any conclusions."

In the video in question, a police officer can be heard telling Lyoya to "stop resisting" and "let go of the taser" multiple times before Lyoya was fatally shot in the ensuing struggle.