A neighbour’s security footage shows the moments before a white Columbus, Ohio policeman arrived and fatally shot the Black teenager.
New footage emerged on Thursday in the police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl who was shot on Tuesday by a white police officer during an alleged altercation in Columbus, Ohio.
Donovan Brinson, who lives across the street from where the incident took place had a camera in his garage recording during the events.
The video showed a chaotic scene. Several people were gathered on a front lawn and Bryant, brandishing a knife, charged toward one person who falls backwards, and then lunged at a second person as the policeman shouted, “Get down!”
WARNING GRAPHIC
New video from a different angle shows the moments leading to the fatal shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant when she was lunging at another woman with a knife
pic.twitter.com/h6kqFntb5Z— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 22, 2021
The policeman, who has been identified as Nicholas Reardon, can be heard firing four times.
Speaking to Fox News, Brinson said he believed the police officer was confronted with a complicated situation.
“He could have either not fired and the young lady in pink could have got stabbed in the neck or fatally injured and then responded and shot and that would have been two young ladies possibly dead,” Brinson said. “Or he could have responded the way that he did and unfortunately one lady lost her life in the incident that probably could have been avoided,” he said.
On Wednesday, police released a 10-second body camera clip that starts with Reardon getting out of his car just as Bryant starts swinging a knife at the first person.
After the shots, Bryant collapsed against the parked car and onto the ground, and the knife is seen lying on the pavement next to her as an officer crouches at her side to render medical aid. She was pronounced dead in the hospital.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said it was “a horrible, heartbreaking situation”.
Her shooting triggered immediate protests in Columbus, which happened during the announcement of the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes last year.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter. Floyd’s death triggered nationwide protests against police use of force and spurred a debate about racial equality in the US.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Ohio State University students staged a sit-in and marched through the city to protest Bryant’s death.
Her death also caused a stir on social media.
NBA star LeBron James tweeted and then deleted a tweet with Reardon’s picture with the words “YOU’RE NEXT” and #ACCOUNTABILITY, seemingly insinuating that Reardon, like Chauvin should be found guilty in a court.
I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
His tweet prompted a rebuke from the National Fraternal Order of Police, one of the largest police unions in the country who called his comments “disgraceful” and “extremely reckless”.
.@KingJames, with his vast resources & influence, should educate himself and, frankly, has a responsibility to do so, on the facts before weighing in. This is disgraceful & extremely reckless.
The officer saved a young girl’s life. No amount of gaslighting will change that fact. pic.twitter.com/GTHn1VAAlf
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) April 21, 2021
On Thursday, a funeral was held for Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot during a traffic stop on April 11 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, just a few miles from the court as the Chauvin trial unfolded.
“He was a brother, a jokester, he was loved by so many,” Katie Wright, Daunte’s mother said during the funeral. “He’s going to be so missed.”
Kim Potter, the white police officer charged with his death has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. The former police chief said Potter mistakenly fired her handgun when she meant to use her Taser. Potter has resigned from her post.
