Mayor and City Manager statement after County Prosecutor’s decision to not re-charge Schurr for the killing of Patrick Lyoya praises the GRPD and wants lawful and civil responses from the community

Shortly after the Kent County Prosecutor decided he would not re-charge the ex-GRPD cop who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, the City of Grand Rapids released a statement.

Part of what Mayor LaGrand said was: 

“While the criminal case has concluded, our city’s journey has not. The work of healing, of building a more equitable and just Grand Rapids, and of strengthening the bonds of trust between our community and all who serve it, including our police department, must continue with even greater resolve. We are committed to the ongoing reforms and dialogues necessary for this progress. We also recognize and support the dedicated GRPD officers who serve our city honorably and professionally every day.”

“The legacy of Patrick Lyoya’s tragic death must be one of enduring commitment to positive change. I implore every resident to channel their emotions into peaceful, constructive action. Let us come together to support one another and continue the hard work of building a city where everyone is safe, valued and respected.”

City Manager Mark Washington echoed some very similar sentiment: 

“The City of Grand Rapids’ commitment to accountability, constitutional policing and our comprehensive police reform agenda remains unwavering. During my tenure, we’ve made great strides in improving policing in our community – many of which have occurred over the last three years – and were just recently highlighted by our Police Chief to our Public Safety Committee on May 20, 2025. We recognize that today’s announcement may intensify the need for trust-building with some segments of our community, and we are fully dedicated to that ongoing work. We also deeply value our GRPD officers who perform their challenging, and often dangerous, duties with integrity, professionalism and commitment to our community every day.”

“I know for some in this is very difficult day and for others a great relief. Regardless, I expect for any and all community expressions to be lawful and civil as we navigate the path forward together.”

Here are some of my immediate responses to these comments from members of the Grand Rapids political class:

First, you can toss around words like equity, justice and healing all you want, but the actions of the City of Grand Rapids do not put into practice meaningful actions/policies to promote equity, justice and healing. 

Second, both Mayor LaGrand and City Manager Washington go out of their way to praise the GRPD, using words like commitment, trust-building, comprehensive police reform, dedicated, honor and professionalism. Even on the heals of a three year fight to win justice for Patrick Lyoya, the treatment of community organizers in this fight, or any other struggle for justice that has occurred in the past decade – primarily led by BIPOC organizer – LaGrand and Washington have the audacity to still praise a police department that continues to surveil, intimidate, harass, arrest and abuse members of the community. 

Third, both LaGrand and Washington make comments with the intent of both trying to control public responses to Becker’s decision to not re-charge Schurr and to demonize anyone who doesn’t operate within the parameters of state-dictated responses. LaGrand wants everyone to be “peaceful” and use “constructive action.” Washington wants everyone to be “lawful and civil.” These are merely code words designed to control and to demonize anyone who doesn’t follow the state-sanctioned script for proper behavior. In other words, nothing that disrupts business as usual, nothing to challenges systems of power and oppression, which ultimately means performative actions and respectability politics. 

Getting back to Mayor LaGrand’s point about building a more equitable and just Grand Rapids, it is interesting (but not surprising) that he offers no concrete examples of how this city can be more equitable or just. 

We know that City Manager Mark Washington has demonstrated his commitment to order, and we have already witnessed the Mayor’s response to critical issues in his first 5 months in office – not listening to the undocumented immigrant’s demand to adopt Sanctuary policies, being dismissive of those who have been abused by the GRPD, his bizarre response to the housing crisis and his commitment to policing, which was reflected in his State of the City address – “Public order is the bedrock of a strong city.” 

In the end, there cannot be meaningful outcomes of equity or justice in Grand Rapids as long as city leaders continue to pander to the members of the Capitalist Class, continue to fund developers and the GRPD, ignore demands from the undocumented immigrant community and remain complicit in the repression of those involved in movement work in recent years. The statement from the City of Grand Rapids should just be one more reminder that we cannot work towards collective liberation when the political system is commitment to state repression, what they like to call law and order.