Family of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant to call for federal investigation into police shooting, another into foster care system
The family of Ma’Khia Bryant, the 16-year-old Ohio girl gunned down by a cop as she apparently wielded a knife last week, called Wednesday for a federal investigation, as did the mayor of Columbus, where the girl was killed.
They also want to see the foster care system that enabled such a dispute probed, family attorney Michelle Martin said at a press conference. Ma’Khia, who was Black, was shot by a white officer on Tuesday of last week, just as the murder conviction was announced a few states away for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
“We’ll be calling for a couple federal investigations,” said Martin, according to The Hill. “One being from the Health and Human Services asking that we look into Ohio’s foster care system, starting here in Franklin County. We’re also going to be calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the shooting. And we’re still investigating who else could be at fault, because this can’t happen again.”
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther formally requested a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the city’s police department as a whole, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
“This is not about one particular officer, policy, or incident; rather, this is about reforming the entire institution of policing in Columbus,” Ginther wrote. “Simply put: We need to change the culture of the Columbus Division of Police.”
The grieving family remembered a vivacious girl who had just made honor roll.
“I want the world to know my baby was a talented, bubbly, loving teenager,” said Ma’Khia Bryant’s mother, Paula Bryant, according to ABC News. “She never should’ve been gone from this world. She had a full life ahead of her that ended in tragedy. I love my baby. She was a good little girl.”
The girl’s foster caretaker, Angela Moore, told CNN on Friday that the incident had begun in a fight over housework between Ma’Khia and two former foster children who were visiting the home, and that although the girls frequently bickered, she had never expected it to escalate to such a degree.
“She was fun,” Moore told CNN. “She liked to dance. She did chores around the house.”
Officials in Columbus, where the tragedy took place, have cautioned the public against rushing to premature judgment and have pointed out that Ma’Khia seemed to be about to attack another girl with a kitchen knife and had been ignoring officers’ commands to get down on the ground when responding Officer Nicholas Reardon fired his gun.
“I understand the outrage and emotion around this incident,” Columbus Safety Director Ned Pettus said last week, noting the open questions about what information Reardon had had, and what might have happened to the other girls in the driveway if he hadn’t fired. “A teenage girl is dead, and she’s dead at the hands of a police officer. Under any circumstances that is a horrendous tragedy, but the video shows that there’s more to this.”
