Cop stops a driver, driver gets out of the car. They start talking and it goes back and forth. The driver, Patrick Lyoya asked the officer what he did wrong. The cop asks for his DL. From the very beginning there is a communication issue. The driver has an accent, seems to be from Central Africa. The cop is fully aware of the communication issue to the point he asks do you speak English. Lyoya pauses for a moment and answers yes. Lyoya is concerned what he did. He asks "what did I do?" Cop replies "the tag doesnt match the vehicle." This is an answer Lyoya doesnt understand. Its pretty clear from the video because he asks. The cop asks "do you have a license?" Lyoya replies Yes. "where is it?" In the car. "Go get it." Lyoya asks his passenger/ companion for his license. The passenger cant find it. Lyoya starts towards the front of the vehicle then heads to the drivers side to get his license, at which point the officer yells "No, no. Stop," whatever. The officer approaches Lyoya from behind without an actual command, grabs Lyoya from behind. To be clear the officer initiated the violence. Not Lyoya. When you grab someone from behind , especially by surprise you trigger fight, flight or freeze. After a brief tussel where the officer is unable to take Lyoya to the ground, Lyoya breaks free and this is where you get to find out does it trigger fight, flight or freeze. Lyoya doesnt turn around and pummel the cop, it seems pretty clear he was totally capable of doing so because he shrugged the cop off. That's not what he did. He ran. So if your the cop whats the smart move? You have someone who you could not take down, from behind and by surprise. Since Lyoya ran, let him run. wait for backup, thats the smart move.
Some folks will say "what if runs away?" He has an accent that isnt from north of our border or south of our border. He flew to get here, we have his prints. We have his car, probably his keys, his ID and his passenger. Get him later, he shouldnt be to hard to find. Thats the smart move but thats not what the cop did. The cop takes off running after him. Jumps on Lyoya from behind again. This whole time the commands are DONT, STOP, STOP RESISTING, stuff like that. In a high stress situation the might as well yell "flat tire." It means nothing, you have to give actual commands. Its best to tell them to do something rather than dont do something because a biological response has been triggered. STOP means nothing. No means nothing. So the cop ends up on Lyoya's back, finally realizing he should give a command. And with Lyoya on the ground, in basically a pushup position with both arms extended and with the cop on his back the command the cop gives is PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK. That is not a command that can be complied with. Gravity has something to say about that. So again Lyoya gets up and breaks free and understand when Lyoya breaks free he isnt hitting the cop. He is literally shrugging the cop off. The cop kneed Lyoya a few times but still Lyoya has not responded with violence. He takes off running again. Cop catches him again. This time cop pulls a taser. Lyoya grabs the taser and pulls it away from him and says "I didnt do anything to you." Cop attempts to deploy the taser. It doesnt do anything and both fall to the ground again. At this point the cop says "drop the taser, let go of the taser." The cop then reaches back to his gun belt, pulls his pistol and shoots Lyoya at the base of the skull while on the ground. During this time the passenger has gotten out of the vehicle and during the scuffle yells at the cop "You can talk to him." To which the cop yells back"NO."
Given everything that is on the video its my perception this officer escalated unnecessarily every possible opportunity. He did not do the smart move, did not follow the best practices.
