Was The Police Shooting Death Of Ma'Khia Bryant Justified?

Tonight, on It's Real Talk Radio, we will be discussing the recent shooting death of 16 year old Ma'Khia Bryant, by Officer Nicholas Reardon, a police officer in Columbus Ohio. On Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, the nation waited anxiously for the verdict of former officer, Derrick Chauvin. As everyone was waiting with great anticipation, about 30 minutes before a jury found Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty for murdering George Floyd in May of 2020, Officer Nicholas Reardon's fatal shots were fired into Ma’Khia Bryant.

The officer claimed he fired the shots in defense of what looked to be a helpless victim curling into a ball to protect herself from the knife clutching lunging motion of Ma'Khia Bryant. When you watch the bodycam footage, it all happens so fast, you can't really tell what's occurred. You have to watch the slow motion playback to really be able to see Ma'Khia Bryant clutching a knife as she lunges towards the other female in the pink. This has sparked debate on what's justified use of force verses excessive force.

Some people feel like Officer Reardon should have shot Ma'Khia in the leg or shot a warning shot into the air or used his Taser to minimize the potential of fatally injuring Ma'Khia Bryant. Others feel like had he hesitated any longer, the other female in the confrontation could have been killed. This police shooting is different from the other nationally covered shootings due to a number of factors. While this is a sad and tragic incident, unlike most of the other police shootings, Ma'Khia wasn't unarmed and she was attacking someone with a deadly weapon and from what we can see from the body cam footage, the other female didn't have a weapon.

This is a tough one but we're gonna share our views on this incident, from an unbiased perspective. Don't miss out!

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