Ever since a neighbor’s video of the events surrounding the shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant was released, it created even more furor on social media. What really happened that day? Did Bryant really yell “I’m gonna stab the f*** out of you” before being gunned down by the police? Who was she trying to stab and why? And what the situation around her at the time?
Neighbor Donavon Brinson’s motion-triggered video of the officer-involved shooting of Bryant has been doing the rounds on the Internet. Brinson has reportedly stated that the Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon “reacted with what he thought was his best judgment” and that “the video doesn’t lie.”
Although Brinson did not view the shooting on Tuesday, April 20, directly, his home surveillance camera caught the scene as Bryant targeted another teen, apparently yelling that she would stab her.
What really happened that day?
Brinson’s camera recorded most of the incident that day. It has since been shared and re-shared on social media with people expressing their views about it. Bryant reportedly assaulted two people – pushing one down and charging at another with a knife allegedly raised and ready to attack. She was yelling, “I’m gonna stab the f**k out of you!”
Brinson said it was he and his wife were returning home from a late lunch, that he and his wife saw “a young lady in pink and another young lady out front exchanging words.” He recalled, “We didn’t think too much about it, but they were very, very loud. You could tell they were upset about something.” Brinson said that he saw one of the girls lock another out of the house “and they said something about, ‘How dare you lock me out of my mama’s house. This is my house too.'” He thought that the argument would be resolved without intervention, “and it will be done and over with.” Five minutes later, Brinson and his wife heard the shots.
Police arrive
At approximately 4:30 pm, Reardon arrived on the scene and yelled for everyone to get down several times before firing his weapon four times – in order to stop Bryant from stabbing the girl. After the shooting, officers tried to resuscitate Bryant at the scene but it was in vain. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
In a previously released bodycam video, Reardon can be seen exiting his vehicle and walking up to the girls who were fighting. “What’s going on? What’s going on?” he asked. Few seconds later, one of the women is pushed in front of him, and Bryant is brandishing the knife. “Hey, get down, get down, get down!” he shouted and drew his gun.
According to the neighbor Brinson, he and his wife were aware that there was a fight going on between two girls but did not see for themselves what was happening. When they heard the gunshots, Brinson recalled that he looked outside and “saw Ma’Khia on the ground, and everyone else kind of in chaos.”
Did Nicholas Reardon have a choice?
The video is a wide-angle view of the shooting – a copy of which Brinson provided to the police. According to the video, the police officer had roughly nine seconds to make a decision. “The video doesn’t lie,” Brinson reportedly said, seemingly defending the actions of the cop. The officer “did what he thought was best,” according to him.
According to Brinson, Reardon did not have much choice and that he “only had seconds to respond.”
“From my point of view watching this, unfortunately, the whole scenario put him in a bad spot regardless of what the situation was,” he said.
In an attempt to showcase the limited options the cop had, Brinson reportedly said, “He could have either not fired and the young lady in pink could have got stabbed in the neck or would have been fatally injured and then responded and shot and that would have been two young ladies possibly dead, or he could have responded the way that he did and unfortunately one lady lost her life in the incident that probably could have been avoided.”
Reardon is now on leave pending an investigation. He has reportedly been on the force for 16 months and is a US Air National Guardsman awarded an expert marksman badge.
*story by MEAWW
