GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A police officer in Michigan shot and killed a man in the back of the head. On Friday, he testified in his own defense, telling the jury that he was “running on fumes” and scared for his life after losing his Taser during a fight.

Christopher Schurr killed Patrick Lyoya with a single shot while pinning him facedown on the ground to restrain him. “I thought that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” he said.

Schurr, who is 34 years old, wiped his eyes and sniffed as the jury watched tape from that day. What he said in court was the first time he told the public what happened after a normal traffic stop in Grand Rapids on a cold, wet spring morning in 2022.

People were shocked when the Grand Rapids police chief shared a video of the killing. The video was taken by a man who was with Lyoya that day. There was also video from the police car and pictures from Schurr’s body camera.

Schurr told the judge, “It’s important for you to hear my side of the story.”

Judges will decide if Schurr, who was prowling by himself, had a good reason to think that Lyoya could hurt or kill him after taking control of his Taser, a weapon that temporarily subdues an attacker by firing electrically charged probes.

Lyoya, a black man, didn’t show Schurr his driver’s license when he pulled him over for having a license plate that didn’t match his car. After that, he ran, and the police officer caught him and grabbed him. As they fought until they were exhausted for more than two minutes, Schurr could be heard pleading with police to come quickly.

To the judges, he said, “I’m running on fumes.”

Video shows that the fight stopped when Schurr shot Lyoya in the head after telling him over and over to stop fighting and hand over the Taser, which the officer had lost control of during the fight.

It’s not known why Lyoya was trying to run. There was an arrest warrant out for him in a domestic violence case, but Schurr didn’t know about it. His driver’s license had been taken away at the time. According to the evidence, an autopsy showed that his blood alcohol level was three times higher than the legal limit for driving.

During Schurr’s cross-examination, prosecutor Chris Becker tried to show differences between what he said in court and what he told detectives three years ago, especially about his health at the time.

Becker also said that the police officer was on top of Lyoya before the fatal shot, which made it seem like he had the upper hand.

“He didn’t say he was going to kill you, did he?” He never said he would hit you. The lawyer said, “He never said he was going to hit you or hurt you in any way.”

Schurr had earlier said in court that he had been shocked with a Taser while he was training to be a police officer and that he knew it could hurt very badly.

Schurr told Becker, “I shot him because I thought he was going to use it on me.” “He began to move toward me.” I felt if I didn’t react at that time, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Sure, but he’s not here, is he?” Becker fired back and talked about Lyoya’s death.

Schurr said, “No, he’s not.”

On Friday, people stood along a busy downtown street outside the building and waved “thin blue line” flags to support Schurr. Lyoya’s parents, who moved to the U.S. from Congo in 2014 with their family, sat in the front row on the other side of the courtroom from his wife.

Late in the day, Lewis “Von” Kliem, a lawyer and former police officer who looks into cases of force across the U.S., also spoke in court. He said Schurr’s choice to shoot Lyoya was a good one, even though it was sad.

Mr. Lyoya didn’t just take the Taser and throw it away, which is very important. Kliem, a defense witness, said, “He took the gun, switched hands, and held it in a way that it could be used.”

After being charged in 2022, Schurr was fired by the city based on the advice of police chief Eric Winstrom. At the time, Winstrom said that his suggestion was based on a recording of the crime, an investigation into the case by the prosecutor, and an interview with internal investigators by Schurr.

A lot of the hearing has been a battle of experts.

Force used The experts who testified for the prosecutor said that killing force was not needed to end the fight. Some top Grand Rapids police officers, called in by Schurr’s lawyers, said that he was in great danger when Lyoya got the Taser.