The funeral for Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year old teenager who was shot to death by a Columbus police officer on April 20th, occurred yesterday in Columbus, Oh. Her murder has sparked concern and outrage in Columbus and all over the nation. The facts of the case seem fairly simple. According to the Columbus Police Department (CPD) , dispatch received two 911 calls indicating a fight involving a group of girls was in progress in a Southeast Columbus neighborhood. When officers arrived on the scene, they were confronted with a fast moving set of events in which Bryant can be seen on an officer’s body cam assaulting a young woman with a knife. Officer Nick Reardon fired four shots killing Bryant. Initially, commentators, police authorities, pundits and observers rushed to defend the officer’s actions. Many argued the officer’s only option was to save the life of the young woman who Bryant can be seen assaulting in the bodycam. While this scenario seems logical on its face, it raises troubling questions about our acceptance of the murder of children by police officers. It assumes no other options existed for the officer to utilize and the officer’s bodycam captured the entirety of the incident. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather than looking at this incident on its face, we need to look beyond what is immediately obvious, To look beyond what our eyes can see and ask a series of more informed and thoughtful questions.
If we look beyond what our eyes can see, we realize that many parts of this incident are unknown. First, we do not have a complete video account of the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the altercation. Several people appear to be coming toward officers including Ma’Khia from the side of the home. Why were these young women surrounding Bryant? She was one individual and we see at least 4-6 people in the video. Who are they? What are they doing? Second, the 911 call to police was allegedly made by Bryant. The call was frantic and indicated several girls had come to the property to attack Bryant. Third, one can reasonably infer from the 911 call that Bryant or someone at the house felt threatened by the presence of the girls and their desire to inflict harm on the occupants. Bryant, most likely, brandished a knife to protect herself against an assault by the other girls. The motive for the altercation, the names of the young women in the driveway and witnesses remain unknown. Much of the pertinent information is not known because CPD has not interviewed any of the witnesses, reviewed cell phone video footage or footage from surrounding homes. The only video released was the police body cam footage which gives viewers the officer’s perspective on what he saw at the angle recorded by the body cam. The three released bodycams are also officer related. All of the relevant footage has been turned over to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which is a division of the Ohio Attorney General’s office. Therefore, we do not have know what caused the altercation, why it escalated, who assaulted whom and the state of the incident slightly before officers arrived, why the girls were there and why Bryant had a knife.
In addition to the incomplete story about this incident currently in circulation, a larger question remains about the officer’s actions. The officer failed to ask Bryant to drop the knife. His only command was “Get Down, Get Down” indicating his intent was to shoot Bryant. Was shooting Bryant the only option? Could the officer have tackled her to neutralize the threat. Is shooting children good policy or justifiable under any circumstances? And then, again, if police policy justified shooting a child, we might ask ourselves are these types of policies appropriate in a profession devoted to protect and serve? We might also ask ourselves, as a civilized society whether sanctioning warfare on our children is the humane thing to do?
There are serious problems in policing and the treatment of Black children in Columbus. The Columbus Police Department ranks third in the country in the number of children murdered since 2013. The CPD has a long history of infractions in policing and the mistreatment of Black citizens and children including the murders of Henry Green and Tyre King. City leaders also recognize the problem. This week, Mayor Andrew Ginther and City Attorney Zach Klein sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting an investigation of the Columbus Police Department. This was followed by a separate letter to the DOJ by Columbus civic leaders and civil rights organizations requesting an investigation of patterns and practice of misconduct by Columbus Division of Police. The Bryant case is fast becoming a catalyst for beginning to address a lingering pattern of problematic behavior by the Columbus Police Department.