Social justice activists and Democrat politicians erupted on Tuesday in a rush to judgment over the police shooting and killing a 16-year-old girl in Ohio which came around the same time that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all counts in the murder trial of George Floyd.
“In an unprecedented move, Columbus police showed body camera footage of the shooting of a 16-year-old girl by a Columbus police officer just hours after the incident on the Southeast Side,” The Columbus Dispatch reported. “The shooting, which happened about 20 minutes before a guilty verdict was announced in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, prompted hundreds to protest at the shooting site and Downtown.”
Ben Crump, a lawyer who frequently takes cases involving police shootings, immediately claimed that 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who was identified by Franklin County Children’s Services, was “unarmed,” saying “Another child lost! Another hashtag. #JusticeForMakiyahBryant”
“As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as @ColumbusPolice killed an unarmed 15yo Black girl named Makiyah Bryant,” Crump claimed on Twitter. “Another child lost! Another hashtag. #JusticeForMakiyahBryant”
Part 8 — the worst lie yet. Ben Crump claims Ma’Khia was unarmed. pic.twitter.com/6tcvuct1o5
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 21, 2021
However, the Columbus Division of Police moved quickly to release body camera footage of the shooting to the public to prevent riots from breaking out.
“Normally we don’t provide information this soon, but we understand the public’s need, desire, and expectation to have transparency upon what happened,” Michael Woods, the interim police chief of Columbus, said. “We’ve worked very hard tonight to provide you a short video of the officer, the first officer that arrived at scene and this is the officer that did ultimately fire his weapon.”
“As per policy, officers immediately assess the female for injuries, summoned the media and began CPR,” Woods later added. “We will now show you the video in slow motion so you can see what the video shows is the female with the knife, attempting to stab the first female that lands on the ground and then the second female that is pushed against the vehicle.”
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“We know, based on this footage, the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community, but a family is grieving tonight and this young 15-year-old girl will never be coming home,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said during the press briefing. “We think it’s critically important to share as much information as possible, as quickly as possible. So we’ll continue to share footage, other information in the hours and days ahead, making sure we’re not in any way shape or form compromising the independent investigation being done by BCI. We felt transparency and sharing this footage as incomplete as it may be at this time is critically important to make sure we were sharing good accurate information about what transpired today with the public and for this grieving family.”