Police in Columbus, Ohio shoot, kill 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant
By Jordan Freiman
CBS News
April 21, 2021
A 16-year-old girl was fatally shot Tuesday by police in Columbus, Ohio. Police released some body camera footage of the shooting of Ma'Khia Bryant on Tuesday night and released additional footage and two 911 calls in a press conference on Wednesday, citing "the public's need, desire and expectation to have transparency."
Interim police chief Michael Woods said Wednesday that dispatchers first received a call for help at 4:32 p.m. On the call, a woman told officers that people were trying to fight and stab her and others, according to an audio recording played during the press conference. A second 911 caller also asked police to respond to the scene, but the call ended quickly after the person realized police had just arrived.
Officers arrived on the scene at 4:44 p.m., Woods said. A slowed-down version of body camera footage appears to show Bryant attacking two other people, lunging at one with something in her hand, just after an officer arrived. The officer, identified by Woods as Nicholas Reardon, fired his weapon several times while Bryant and another girl were struggling against the side of a parked car. A knife could be seen next to Bryant's body after the shooting.
It was unclear what led to the altercation, which was already in progress when the officers arrived.
A knife is clearly visible in Ma'Khia's hand as she fights with another girl
Bryant's family told CBS Columbus affiliate WBNS-TV that Bryant was the one who called the police for help, saying people were fighting outside her house. Woods declined to comment on who called 911.
Woods said the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. When the agency has finished its investigation, "the divisional police will conduct an administrative review of the actions of this officer and all officers at the scene," Woods said.
The officer who killed Bryant will be "taken off the street" while the shooting is investigated, Woods said. He also said a decision on whether the officer violated any policy will come after the criminal investigation is complete and sent to a grand jury.
"It's a tragedy. There's no other way to say it," Woods said. "It's a 16-year-old girl. I'm a father, her family is grieving. Regardless of the circumstances associated with this, a teenage girl lost her life yesterday."
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther called the shooting a "horrible, heartbreaking situation" and said, "We know from this footage that the officer took action to protect another young girl in the community."
Woods said "deadly force can be used to protect yourself or (for) the protection of a third person. ... Whether this complies with that will be part of that investigation."
Shortly after the shooting, which occurred around the same time the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin was announced, demonstrators began gathering at the shooting scene and at the Columbus Division of Police's downtown headquarters.
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1 comment:
There is no doubt in my mind the cop would have been excoriated if he had not taken action and the attacker had knifed her victim. The cop acted correctly. When you attack someone while armed with a deadly weapon the cops should act. That's what we pay them for.
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