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Grand Rapids police release video of officer fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya

WARNING: This video contains graphic content. Video from the Grand Rapids Police Department was released at a press conference and shows one of their officers fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya.

Provided by the Grand Rapids Police Department

LANSING The Michigan Department of State said Friday it would no longer release the driving records of victims of violence, but Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson reversed the policy change a few hours later.

"There is no change in policy at this time," Benson said in a news release later Friday.

"The department is currently reviewing the manner in which it provides the driver record of any Michigan resident to third parties to ensure we balance the critical importance of government transparency and access to information with the need to protect the privacy of Michiganders."

But while the review is underway, "there will be no changes to our current policy, nor will there be any changes to media or public access to such data."

The earlier announcement had brought sharp blowback and criticism from First Amendment proponents.

Driving records and other motor vehicle recordsare routinely and quickly obtained by members of the news media and members of some other industries, such as insurance companies. But Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for the department, said the statehas discretion and the law says it "may release" such information, not that it must.

In an unsigned news release issued earlier Friday, the Department of State, which Benson heads,said its sudden policy change was related to the police killing in Grand Rapids last week of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old unarmed Black man, during a traffic stop. The police shooting is under investigation by the Michigan State Police.

The release said the state agency had provided Lyoya's driving record to three unidentified media outlets"before recognizing that it was being included as an irrelevant detail that wrongly suggests he is culpable for being shot in the back of the head by a Grand Rapids police officer."

Department officials would not say whether the Free Press, which obtained the information and reported only that Lyoya's license was revoked, was one of the media outlets that prompted the policy change.

More: Grand Rapids police release video of officer fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya

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The department "condemns the killing of Patrick Lyoya," and "will no longer provide the driving record and personal information of Mr. Lyoya to the media, nor will it provide to media such records and information of other victims of violence," said the statement, which was later reversed.

Detroit Free Press Editor Peter Bhatia said obtaining driving records is"a standard journalistic practice and a long-standing service provided by the Secretary of State's Office to the media." Bhatia said it was his understanding that the Free Press reporting was in part the cause of the press release.

"While we acknowledge that some may see the publication of such information as inflammatory, and cite press reports after the killings of other Black men by police officers, we saw the license revocationas important context given the sequence of events in Grand Rapids and that the encounter between Lyoya and the officer deteriorated quickly after the officer asked for Lyoya's license. Our intention was purely journalistic," Bhatia said.

"In situations such as this we are extremely careful to provide information about everyone involved in context and at the appropriate time in the evolution of a case. We do not rush to publish because we might have some details first."

Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan Press Association, said she has "grave concerns" about any state agency withholding or releasing information based on how that agency believes the information is going to be used.

"That flies in the face of the intent of the law," she said. "At what point does that allow officials to protect themselves?"

In the specific case of the fatal shooting of Lyoya, "it's in the public interest to have as much transparency as possible," McGraw said.

Free Press legal counsel Herschel Fink said the policy floated Friday would set a dangerous precedent.

"This is censorship pure and simple. Its not the place of a secretary of state toimpose her political judgment on what information the public is entitled to have concerning investigations of possible crimes. Its the function of law enforcement and prosecutors, and, where necessary, the courts interpreting open record laws."

In the earlier statement, the Department of Statecalled on state lawmakers to "strengthen the law to demonstrate that they value the privacy of Michiganders." In the meantime, it said it will continue to review and revise policies under which it provides "the personal information of any Michigan resident to third parties."

Wimmer said that because the department has discretion about what information it releases and under what circumstances, there would likely be lengthier conversations to assess the purpose of requestsbefore information is released.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

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State moves to block release of certain driver records, then reverses itself - Detroit Free Press