Newly released 911 calls and dramatic police bodycam footage provide disturbing new details of the police shooting death of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Ohio on Tuesday.
Columbus police also identified the cop who fired the fatal shots as Nicholas Reardon, who has been with the force since 2019, officials said at a press conference.
Police released a portion of Reardon’s bodycam video on Tuesday — but not the extended footage or the other cops’ video.
Warning: Graphic content.
All of the cameras show Bryant fighting with another girl before she is seen lunging at one with what appears to be a knife when she is shot.
“No! You ain’t shoot my f—ing baby,” a man at the scene is heard screaming after Reardon fires four shots and hits Bryant.
“Are you f—ing serious?” the man, who was not identified, is heard screaming. “You shot my baby. Are you f—ing kidding me? Are you f—ing serious?”
“She had a knife,” Reardon is heard saying. “She just went at her.”
“She’s a f—ing kid, man,” the man responds. “Man, are you stupid? A f—ing kid?”
The chilling footage shows officers trying to revive Bryant, who was later taken by ambulance to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said cops called for an ambulance within 90 seconds of the shooting, with EMS arriving in six minutes.
Cops received two 911 calls, the first from the site where the shooting later took place — with screaming heard in the background and a woman telling the dispatcher, “we need a police officer here now,” before hanging up.
A second caller told the dispatcher, “never mind, police are already here.”
Bodycams from the other officers at the scene capture the chaos that followed the shooting, with bystanders berating cops.
“You are a selfish son of a bitch for shooting that girl,” one man tells cops.
The shooting, at around 4:45 p.m., came amid lingering tensions over police shootings — and on the same day a Minneapolis jury convicted ex-cop Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the May 25 death of George Floyd.
Police released more bodycam footage:
Bryant’s fatal shooting is being investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Woods said at Wednesday’s briefing.
“The important step now is for BCI to conduct an independent and transparent investigation,” the chief said. “The Columbus Division of Police will assist them but we will not interfere in any investigative process that they have.”
“Our role is to provide them the information that they request and do so in a timely manner,” Woods added.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the probe is of the “utmost priority.”
“We don’t yet have all of the facts, but we do know that a 16-year-old girl, a child in this community, tragically died last night,” Ginther said. “We released the officer’s body-worn camera footage as soon as possible.”
This is an excerpt from the New York Post.
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