Black skin often means being unable to breathe a sigh of relief in America, even after a rare instance of white police officers being held accountable for their brutality against Black people. There always seems to be another case, another death, and another white cop protected. Just minutes before former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a 16-year-old Black girl while responding to a call about a threatened fight.
Ma’Khia Bryant died on Tuesday, the same day Columbus police officials released disturbing video of her shooting and her body lying in the street as first responders tried to help her. She was an honor student who “promoted peace,” her mother Paula Bryant told local news station 10TV. The officer who shot her, however, could be heard on the footage accusing the teen of coming at someone with a knife.
I’ve decided not to embed the police video in this story, which is replayed in slow motion. If you choose to watch it, be advised it is extremely triggering. Interim police chief Michael Woods said during a news conference that normally the department doesn’t provide such information so soon “but we understand the public’s need, desire, and expectation to have transparency upon what happened.”
He said officers were dispatched at 4:32 PM when a caller said females were trying to stab them and “put their hands on them.” When officers arrived two minutes later, the footage shows someone pushing another person, who rolled to the ground in the direction of the officer that fired his gun. At that point, shouts of “get down, get down” could be heard. Then, video shows an officer aiming his gun beyond the two people in the altercation and firing four times. Someone on the scene yelled at the officer: “She’s a f-----g kid.”
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a statement released on Twitter hours after the teen's death that officials are reviewing body-camera footage in the incident and that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is conducting an independent investigation. “We will share information that we can as soon as it becomes available,” Ginther said. “I’m asking for residents to remain calm and allow BCI to gather the facts.”
Ma’Khia’s death sparked immediate protests in Columbus. “Say her name: Ma’Khia Bryant,” a crowd chanted in one video of demonstrators.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the shooting “tragic” during a briefing on Wednesday. “She was a child,” Psaki said. “We’re thinking of her friends and family and the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss.
"We know that police violence disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people and communities and that Black women and girls, like Black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence."
Ma’Khia was in foster care, which Psaki noted in her remarks. “We also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care like Ma’Khia face, and her death came, as you noted, just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin and the verdict that was reached,” Psaki said. “So our focus is on working to address systemic racism and implicit bias head-on and of course to passing laws and legislation that will put much-needed reforms into place at police departments around the country.”
Biden called Chauvin's conviction "a giant step forward on the march towards justice in America" but also mentioned, “what we must do in his memory.” The president didn’t get into specifics, but Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department will open a civil investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department focused on whether the department "engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing." Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified that Chauvin was acting outside of department standards in detaining Floyd. The ex-cop is now being held “for his safety” in a segregated housing unit at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights until his sentencing, which is slated in about eight weeks, CNN reported.
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Ma’Khia Bryant died on Tuesday, the same day Columbus police officials released disturbing video of her shooting and her body lying in the street as first responders tried to help her. She was an honor student who “promoted peace,” her mother Paula Bryant told local news station 10TV. The officer who shot her, however, could be heard on the footage accusing the teen of coming at someone with a knife.
I’ve decided not to embed the police video in this story, which is replayed in slow motion. If you choose to watch it, be advised it is extremely triggering. Interim police chief Michael Woods said during a news conference that normally the department doesn’t provide such information so soon “but we understand the public’s need, desire, and expectation to have transparency upon what happened.”
He said officers were dispatched at 4:32 PM when a caller said females were trying to stab them and “put their hands on them.” When officers arrived two minutes later, the footage shows someone pushing another person, who rolled to the ground in the direction of the officer that fired his gun. At that point, shouts of “get down, get down” could be heard. Then, video shows an officer aiming his gun beyond the two people in the altercation and firing four times. Someone on the scene yelled at the officer: “She’s a f-----g kid.”
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a statement released on Twitter hours after the teen's death that officials are reviewing body-camera footage in the incident and that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is conducting an independent investigation. “We will share information that we can as soon as it becomes available,” Ginther said. “I’m asking for residents to remain calm and allow BCI to gather the facts.”
Ma’Khia’s death sparked immediate protests in Columbus. “Say her name: Ma’Khia Bryant,” a crowd chanted in one video of demonstrators.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the shooting “tragic” during a briefing on Wednesday. “She was a child,” Psaki said. “We’re thinking of her friends and family and the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss.
"We know that police violence disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people and communities and that Black women and girls, like Black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence."
Ma’Khia was in foster care, which Psaki noted in her remarks. “We also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care like Ma’Khia face, and her death came, as you noted, just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin and the verdict that was reached,” Psaki said. “So our focus is on working to address systemic racism and implicit bias head-on and of course to passing laws and legislation that will put much-needed reforms into place at police departments around the country.”
Biden called Chauvin's conviction "a giant step forward on the march towards justice in America" but also mentioned, “what we must do in his memory.” The president didn’t get into specifics, but Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department will open a civil investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department focused on whether the department "engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing." Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified that Chauvin was acting outside of department standards in detaining Floyd. The ex-cop is now being held “for his safety” in a segregated housing unit at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights until his sentencing, which is slated in about eight weeks, CNN reported.
View other posts on social media about Ma’Khia: