A video shows a Michigan officer on a Black man's back before he fatally shot him

A video shows a Michigan officer on a Black man's back before he fatally shot him

Transcript¹

Police in Grand Rapids have released videos of an incident earlier this month when an unnamed officer shot a Black man in the back of his head following an apparent struggle for the officer's Taser.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is promising² a transparent³ investigation⁴ after video showed a Grand Rapids police officer shooting a driver in the back of the head. The video shows this happened after the officer and driver struggled outside the car. Last night, people protested the death of Patrick Lyoya. Reporter Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio is in Grand Rapids and is covering this story.

DUSTIN DWYER, BYLINE⁵: It was Monday morning, 10 days ago, 8:11 a.m. A Grand Rapids, Mich., police officer stops a driver in a residential⁶ neighborhood. Police say the reason for the stop was that the license⁷ plate on that car didn't match the description of the vehicle. And as that traffic stop that turned into a foot chase, then a struggle, and it ended with the police officer shooting and killing⁸ Patrick Lyoya.

INSKEEP: And a lot of this is captured on video. We're going to play a little bit of one of the videos that was released Wednesday by the Grand Rapids Police Department. This begins as a traffic stop. You see the officer pull Lyoya over, and Lyoya, instead of staying in the car, which is what they tell you to do, steps out of the car. And then there's a conversation on the street. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Can I see your license?

PATRICK LYOYA: What did I do wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: The plate doesn't belong on this car. Do you have a license or no?

INSKEEP: You hear him saying, what did I do wrong? What happens next?

DWYER: Well, he sounds confused at first. And then what Lyoya tries to do is he starts to kind of walk away from the officer, and then that officer tries to grab him, and Lyoya then runs away. The officer chases after him. You see a struggle. That struggle goes on for more than a minute. Toward the end of this bodycam video, you do see Lyoya reach for the officer's Taser and grab it. And that's - just after that, the police officer's bodycam actually becomes deactivated⁹ in this struggle.

INSKEEP: I guess we should be clear. The officer still has his hand on the Taser, has the finger on the trigger, but Lyoya has grabbed the barrel of the Taser at that last second. Then that cam goes away. There are other angles, however, from other cameras, including a cell phone video taken by a passenger in a car, and that captures the actual shooting. What does it show us?

DWYER: Well, it shows us that the Taser goes off twice. And then you see that Lyoya and this officer are on the ground struggling. The officer tells Lyoya to let go of the Taser. Lyoya at this point is facedown. The officer is on top of him, kind of straddling him, trying to push and keep him down. And lastly, you see the officer then reach for the gun at his hip¹⁰ and shoots at the back of Lyoya's head. And that's the shot that kills him.

INSKEEP: Just a shocking moment. How have people in Grand Rapids responded to this?

DWYER: Well, there's anger. There's grief. A lot of people had heard this video described in the past ten days. There had been a number of demonstrations¹¹ calling for these videos to be released. It's been tense this whole time. There were demonstrations last night. Robert S. Womack is a county commissioner¹². He's spoken to the Lyoya family, who has called this an execution. The Lyoya family - they're Congolese refugees who came to this country fleeing violence. Womack said he saw the video, and he said it did add extra context to the struggle that led to the shooting.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROBERT S WOMACK: But at the same time, whenever you put your knee on a person's back and you take out a gun and you put it to their head, in our community, they look at it as an execution.

DWYER: But what Womack wants now is he says he wants to see charges against this police officer. And for now, Michigan State Police are still investigating. And until that investigation is complete, Grand Rapids says it's not releasing the name of the officer.

INSKEEP: Dustin, thanks for the update.

DWYER: Thank you.

INSKEEP: That's Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

3 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 deactivated   

v.解除动员( deactivate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；复员；使不活动

参考例句：

• \"The brain can be deactivated. It can be yours to command.\" “大脑计算机可以被停止。如果你下达命令的话。” 来自互联网
• He successfully deactivated a nuclear reactor in a laboratory before meltdown. 他成功停用一个核反应堆在实验室之前崩溃。 来自互联网

10 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

11 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

12 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。