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“If the officer involved was wrong, we will hold him accountable.”
Ned Pettus Jr, the Columbus Public Safety Director, appealed to the community to remain calm and not “rush to judgment”.
“I understand the outrage and emotion around this incident. A teenage girl is dead, and she’s dead at the hands of a police officer. Under any circumstances, that is a horrendous tragedy,” Mr Pettus said.
“But the video shows that there is more to this. It requires us to pause, take a close look at the sequence of events. And though it’s not easy, wait for the facts as determined by an independent investigation.
“We have to ask ourselves, what information did the officer have? What did he see? How much time did he have to assess the situation? And what would have happened if he had taken no action at all? We don’t yet have those answers.
“I plead with the community, let us not rush to judgment. Fast facts should not come at the cost of complete and accurate facts.
“The loved ones of Ma’Khia Bryant have my most sincere sympathies. We as a community should wrap them in love, and we should allow the process to play out.”
Reporters asked Chief Woods to elaborate on his department’s policy governing the use of firearms, and when tasers should be used instead.
“What I can say is, when officers are faced with someone employing deadly force, deadly force can be the response the officer gives,” he said, stressing that he could not comment on this specific incident.
“If there’s not deadly force being perpetrated on someone else, an officer may have the opportunity to have cover, distance and time to use a taser. But if there is an active assault going on in which someone can lose their life, an officer can use their service weapon.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the shooting during today’s media briefing.
“The killing of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant by the Columbus police is tragic. She was a child,” Ms 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 in communities, and that black women and girls, like black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence.
“We also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care, like Ma’Khia, face.
“And her death came just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin.
“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 in place in police departments across the country.”
Protests erupted in Colombus last night in response to the shooting, which came about half an hour before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering African-American man George Floyd.
Demonstrators carried Black Lives Matter signs and chanted “enough is enough”.
“Say her name: Ma’Khia Bryant,” they also said.
Relatives of Makhia told local media she was the person who had called police, to report women were trying to stab her.
“She was a good kid. She was loving,” Hazel Bryant, the girl’s aunt, told reporters after the shooting.
“She didn’t deserve to die like a dog on the street.”
Ma’Khia was staying at a foster home but told her mother Paula Bryant last week she was looking forward to coming home.
“This never should have happened. She’s a loving girl,” Ms Bryant told 10WBNS.
“I’m very upset, I’m hurt, I want answers.
“My daughter dispatched the Columbus police for protection, not to be a homicide today.”
A few states away, in Minnesota, Chauvin was yesterday convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second degree manslaughter over the death of Mr Floyd, 46, during an arrest on May 25, 2020. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Mr Floyd died during a confrontation with police who had responded to reports he’d used a fraudulent $US20 note to buy cigarettes.
Bystanders filmed Chauvin kneeling on the unarmed Black man’s neck and back for nine minutes and 29 seconds, not moving his position despite Mr Floyd crying out he couldn’t breathe.