OH - Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, fatally shot multiple times by Columbus police officer, 20 April 2021

[lonetraveler]

I suspect that we disagree broadly about what the role of police should be in our communities.

I'll just say what I see in this instance. Ma'Kiah appears to be behaving in an uncoordinated, unfocused way. She lunges at one girl but doesn't stab her, and doesn't continue to attack her. She instead bounces towards another girl, and it appears likely that her intent was to stab her. AFAIK she hadn't actually injured anybody. Of course her actions weren't appropriate. But they also didn't present her as a girl likely to inflict real violence.

IMO police should NEVER escalate a situation. Moving from somebody threatening to stab, to an officer shooting four times and killing, is an exponential escalation of the situation, which, IMO, without significant extenuating circumstances, would never be called for.

IMO it's really extending the envelope to say that the officer escalated the situation. He saved the girl from being stabbed. Should there have been a mental health expert called instead so that they could have talked her down from stabbing the girl??? Was there really time for that to happen?

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James reacted to the news on Twitter, in a now-deleted tweet, by sharing an image of the officer involved in the fatal shooting of Bryant, and wrote "YOU’RE NEXT" while hashtagging "ACCOUNTABILITY".

LeBron James now-deleted tweet targets officer in Ohio police shooting: 'YOU'RE NEXT'

*Dear celebrities: Get a second job if you have too much time on your hands. Open ears. Close mouth. Wait till more information comes out before speaking. Use your power and voice wisely.

Le Bron James? What can I say? He knows everything about everything, right? Because he is a celebrity, yes.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

As a retired RN yes I have seen a few die of stab wounds. Stabbings can very well be lethal.

Yes, absolutely!

Just the day before this incident a 13 year old girl killed another girl with a pocket knife.

13-year-old girl charged in fatal stabbing of another teen in Winton Hills, police say

 

[kittythehare]

EXPLAINER: Training limits officer's choice for deadly force

I see his answers.
I'd like to see legal opinion on the stated policy, however.
This for example
WHY DIDN'T THE OFFICER TRY TO PHYSICALLY RESTRAIN MA'KIAH INSTEAD OF USING A WEAPON OF ANY KIND?

Trying to disarm an armed person without using force can have deadly consequences, even in the case of someone with a knife, who could easily slash an officer, Scott said.

In cases of unarmed people, officers have a variety of options, including pepper spray or expandable batons, he said.

 

[Katerz]

Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake & More React to Shooting of Ma'Khia Bryant

Mother of teen fatally shot by Columbus police wants answers | 10tv.com

RAW VIDEO: Protests in Columbus following shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant – NBC4 WCMH-TV

I’m getting sick of these celebrities that want to go posting stuff like that. Did Timberlake even watch the body cam video? She was trying to kill someone. That cop saved a woman’s life.

 

[Katerz]

Bodycam footage shows fatal police shooting of 16-year-old girl in southeast Columbus | 10tv.com

The picture doesn't look like a "child" to me. 16 years old, in custody of CPS.

From the body cam she looked like at least a 21 year old. But she was running around trying to STAB people. Can’t just do that and get away with it. Plus I think I heard the officer repeatedly yell for her to drop the knife and she did not. He was forced to shoot.

 

[tayaway]

It appears that most of us agree a reasonable use of force, via a taser or a gun, was needed to stop MB from stabbing the female in pink, yes? The core question is whether shooting her multiple times was excessive or not. We are speculating, throwing our beliefs and assumptions, current racial tensions, Black Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter... into it and so on, while even the community leaders (police chief, mayor...) are saying, wait until after the investigation. If the people at the center of the investigation aren't assuming anything, why are we? What if we work with what we know up to this point?

eta:

I agree. They should have held off with their opinions until the camera footage was released. They got everyone in a tizzy over a white cop shooting a black teenager. Then it was oh the teenager had a knife. <modsnip>

Yes, the media, in this era of live streaming everything, needs to cool its jets when reporting. A little less bias too. Maybe something like 'A teen has just been shot dead by police. More info soon.'

 

[obripe]

He was named at the press conference.

Nicholas Reardon

Thanks, I didn't realize there had been a second press conference!

 

[noname99]

Yes, the media, in this era of live streaming everything, needs to cool its jets when reporting. A little less bias too. Maybe something like 'A teen has just been shot dead by police. More info soon.'

This argument is never used when it is police pushing out their story first.

 

[branmuffin]

No-one, and I mean no-one, wants to assign blame when a 16 year old girl is shot during an altercation that involves a deadly weapon. I am tired of watching videos of people losing their lives, no matter how old they are but it always needs to be done.

You have to watch every part of the video, again and again, to make sense of events that transpire in seconds. In real time and in slow motion. Slow motion is a type of cheating, IMO, because it allows you to parse the information, frame by frame and as each frame goes by you have the luxury of separating each motion as a discrete event. That is not a luxury afforded those involved, though. The officer arriving at the scene, Ma'khia with a knife and a girl in pink up against a vehicle. I can't make up my mind whether Ma'khia picked up the knife after pushing that girl to the ground. Who had it first? But I do know that she had a knife in her hand and she looked like she was going to use it to slash the girl in pink.

I believe in police reform. I believe in empathy training and the recognition of cultural bias. That officer was in a no win situation. He had a choice of neutralizing a threat or telling the girl in pink's parents that their daughter was dead. Would anyone want to be in that place?

Make no mistake, all police killings of citizens should be investigated to the fullest extent and they will. And we have to accept that the result of those video examinations can exonerate or charge.

 

[obripe]

Excuse me but are you implying that a law enforcement officer having to kill someone is the same as someone killing someone?

Yes. I believe that police should be held to the same standards as everybody else.

If Ma'Khia were in the midst of a deadly stabbing spree? maybe his actions would be justified. As is stands, I'll say again- I don't think that a cop should have the right to shoot in this situation. We don't know which of these girls was more "right" or "wrong". For all the cop knew Ma'Khia had good reasons for her actions. I'm not defending her- just saying that, for many reasons, I don't think shooting should have been an option here.

 

[obripe]

IMO it's really extending the envelope to say that the officer escalated the situation. He saved the girl from being stabbed. Should there have been a mental health expert called instead so that they could have talked her down from stabbing the girl??? Was there really time for that to happen?

We'll have to agree to disagree here. Guns are vastly more deadly than knives. We're also talking about the actions of an untrained, discombobulated teenager, compared to a (supposedly) trained, professional "keeper of the peace". So yes, a gun is a dramatic escalation from a knife.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

“She came after me,” the woman in pink tells an officer in a newly released body cam video. “She came after me,” she says. An officer asks, “With a knife?” The woman in pink responds, “Yeah, so he got her.”

Screenshots appear to bear this out; they show what appears to be a knife in the teenager’s hand as she rushes toward another female in a pink outfit next to a car. The body cam video frames also show the knife on the ground after Bryant was shot.

Nicholas Reardon: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

 

[Peppery]

Yes. I believe that police should be held to the same standards as everybody else.

If Ma'Khia were in the midst of a deadly stabbing spree? maybe his actions would be justified. As is stands, I'll say again- I don't think that a cop should have the right to shoot in this situation. We don't know which of these girls was more "right" or "wrong". For all the cop knew Ma'Khia had good reasons for her actions. I'm not defending her- just saying that, for many reasons, I don't think shooting should have been an option here.

BBM. I’m curious what a good reason would be for attempting to stab someone?

 

[Caylee Advocate]

Anyone take a look at how much time between the officer arriving and MB trying to stab the girl in pink? It’s roughly 12 seconds. The officer had NO time to calm the situation, NO time to try and “tackle” MB.
His options were save the girl in pink, or stand there and let MB stab her.
People put LE in these situations and then complain when something happens.

As sad as this all is, maybe we should all stop and ask ourselves what our reaction would be if it were our child about to be stabbed? I can answer without hesitation.... I would be thankful for that officer's reaction.

There were two 15 year old boys in a shootout elsewhere in Columbus around the same time this was going on, one is deceased and the other was wounded and charged with murder. Not much in media being said.

Edited to add link: Two Fifteen-Year-Olds in Southeast Columbus Exchange Gunfire, One Dies - Scioto Post

#ALL LIVES MATTER.

MOO

 

[SBops]

BBM. I’m curious what a good reason would be for attempting to stab someone?

I am curious why police in other countries can disarm children without killing them.

 

[obripe]

BBM. I’m curious what a good reason would be for attempting to stab someone?

Suppose Ma'Khia had been held captive by this group of people and was trying to escape. Or, if there was some other threat to her that was not obviously visible at the time. Of course, it's not likely that any such circumstance was occuring. For all the cop knew though, it could have been possible.

 

[katydid23]

We'll have to agree to disagree here. Guns are vastly more deadly than knives. We're also talking about the actions of an untrained, discombobulated teenager, compared to a (supposedly) trained, professional "keeper of the peace". So yes, a gun is a dramatic escalation from a knife.

Untrained discombobulated teens can be quite deadly, when armed with a knife and pinning another teen against a car.

So what would people in the community be saying, if the officer didnt immediately shoot, and the teen stabbed the girl in pink in her neck, killing her?

Would we be complaining that the officer didn't value the dead teen's life enough to step in and save her?

 

[Betty P]

“She came after me,” the woman in pink tells an officer in a newly released body cam video. “She came after me,” she says. An officer asks, “With a knife?” The woman in pink responds, “Yeah, so he got her.”

Screenshots appear to bear this out; they show what appears to be a knife in the teenager’s hand as she rushes toward another female in a pink outfit next to a car. The body cam video frames also show the knife on the ground after Bryant was shot.

Nicholas Reardon: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

If you look at thr bodycamvideo that is played in slow motion, you can also see the knife in her hand as she slashes at the first young woman she attacked. She was holding the knife the entire time she is in the video.

Its sad that she was killed, but whzt we need to mourn is wht brougbt her to the terrible situation she was in. Treatment for mental health problems? Counseling? Was she being bullied and lost her temper? Was the foster home where she lived not taking care of her properly?

BLM has a lot of impotant work to do. I'm not sure pursuing charges against this officer is the bext use of their time and resources.

 

[katydid23]

Suppose Ma'Khia had been held captive by this group of people and was trying to escape. Or, if there was some other threat to her that was not obviously visible at the time. Of course, it's not likely that any such circumstance was occuring. For all the cop knew though, it cold have been possible.

It was pretty obvious that MaKhia was not trying to escape. She was the aggressor, and that was obvious by her body language and the circumstances.

 

[katydid23]

I am curious why police in other countries can disarm children without killing them.

The sad truth is, our children are acting out in more violent ways than in most other countries. We have huge communities of children actively killing each other. I don't see it happening in other countries the way it is happening here.