Rev. Al Sharpton said Friday that Michigan authorities should release the name of the police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya to the public.
“We want his name!” Sharpton said.
Sharpton made the demand while speaking to a crowd of roughly 1,000 people at Lyoya’s funeral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The officer’s name will not be made public unless he is charged with a crime, a report noted.
WATCH: MIKE TYSON PUMMELS ANNOYING PLANE PASSENGER, PUNCHES HIM TILL BLOODY
“Every time a young black man or woman is arrested in this town, you put their name all over the news. Every time we’re suspected of something, you put our name out there,” Sharpton said. “How dare you hold the name of a man that killed this man? We want his name!”
Lyoya, a 26-year-old father of two who immigrated from the Congo, was killed April 4 after getting into a physical altercation with law enforcement.
He was shot face down after running from an officer who pulled him over and then informed him that his license plate did not match the car he was driving, according to a report.
In footage of the struggle with Lyoya, the officer can be heard shouting at Lyoya to take his hand off his Taser.
Lyoya came to the United States to seek a better life, but he “ran into an America that we know too well,” Sharpton told the mourners in a eulogy.
Many in the crowd wore T-shirts and sweatshirts featuring Lyoya’s image.
“We can’t bring Patrick back. But we can bring justice in Patrick’s name,” Sharpton said.
He also called for a federal investigation into Lyoya’s death.
Ben Crump, the attorney representing Lyoya’s family, echoed Sharpton, saying that an “unnamed police officer escalated a simple misdemeanor traffic stop into a deadly execution.”
“World leaders [can] condemn Russian soldiers shooting unarmed citizens in the back of the head in Ukraine, but then refuse to condemn police officers shooting unarmed black citizens here in Grand Rapids, Michigan,” he said. “If it’s wrong that you do it in the Ukraine, then it’s wrong that you do it in Grand Rapids.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lyoya’s service was held at Renaissance Church of God in Christ, and his body was displayed in a white open casket.
