The Columbus police officer who shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant last year has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, Ohio prosecutors announced Friday.
Bryant was killed in April by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon as she swung a knife at a young woman, just seconds after pushing another woman to the ground. Police were responding to a 911 call made from Bryant’s foster home about a group of girls threatening to stab members of the household.
The killing led to a Justice Department review of the police department in Ohio’s capital city.
Officer Nicholas Reardon arrived on the scene and shot Bryant four times who died from her injuries. The coroner listed the cause of death as a homicide — a medical determination used in cases where someone has died at someone else’s hand, but not a legal finding. It doesn’t imply criminal intent.
I shared my own experience as a young black girl in Harlem, NYC and the horror associated with protecting yourself in a hostile environment. Mediators and prevention are a necessary conversation to assist young girls with no influential guidance.
Watch the graphic officer cam footage below.
Was the officer justified?
