Patrick Lyoya's killing by Michigan police was caught on video. Here's how to record cops.

All he could do was to record. 

As Patrick Lyoya wrestled with and then was shot in the back of the head by a Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officer, the passenger in Lyoya's car, also a Black man, did the only thing he could – he began to record what was happening with his cellphone.

Where would we be in this country without the cellphone video of the killings of Black people? Certainly further behind than where we are now.

 It has become an act of bravery for a person to record the use of excessive force by police. Perhaps the most famous of these videos was taken by Darnella Frazier, who made the courageous decision to record the slow, agonizing death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. Without that cellphone footage, there would not have been nearly as strong of a case against Chauvin, who was ultimately convicted of murder.

On Wednesday, multiple recordings were released showing the Grand Rapids officer fatally shooting Lyoya on April 4. Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, was facedown on the ground when he was shot after a traffic stop for an apparently unregistered license plate.

Our View:Police should stop making minor traffic stops that too often turn into major tragedies

The video shot by Lyoya's companion is possibly the most important evidence of what took place; it may well take center stage if there is a trial. 

How to safely record police

As we wait for more details about Lyoya's killing, I contacted Institute for Justice attorney Patrick Jaicomo about the law on recording police encounters. 

"The specific rules vary depending on the federal circuit you’re in," Jaicomo said. "For example, the 10th Circuit (covering Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah) in Frasier v. Evans declined to say whether there is a First Amendment right to record police, holding only that it was not clearly established. In all, only six circuits have affirmatively confirmed a First Amendment right to record. Still, none have held there is not a right to record."

I don't watch videos of police brutality:This story is too real and change too far off.

But there have been cases where people have been arrested for recording audio without the officer’s consent. I asked Jaicomo about that and he said, "Generally speaking if there is a First Amendment right to record, those laws will be invalidated."

If you decide to record an encounter with police, the most important thing to keep in mind is your safety. After that, Jaicomo said, here are other points to keep in mind:

Before you record:

►Stay “a reasonable distance” away from a police encounter to keep yourself safe.

►Sync data with a cloud in case something happens to the phone during the encounter.

►Turn off face recognition, a numerical password is probably safer. 

Your rights to record police encounters:

►Many courts have held that the First Amendment guarantees the right to photograph and film the police and other public officials in public spaces.

►You may have heard that police cannot take a phone without a warrant or delete its contents. But in Frasier v. Evans, police did in fact try to take and delete video, and the circuit court granted them qualified immunity, meaning the lawsuit was not able to proceed against the officers regardless of whether there was a violation of the plaintiff's constitutional rights. 

►If an officer tells you to stop, and you are not interfering with their ability to do their job, then you can calmly state that you have the right to record them. 

Carli Pierson is an attorney, former professor of human rights, writer and member of USA TODAY's Editorial Board. You can follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq