“The View” co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin agreed on Thursday that the police officer who shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday had the option to “de-escalate” Bryant’s knife attack instead of using “deadly force.”
Behar suggested the officer could have just shot his gun in the air instead of aiming it at the 16-year-old.
“He said the cop had no choice … and my feeling is I don’t know if that’s true or not,” Behar said. “I really can’t figure it out anymore. It seems to me … in a situation … I’ve looked at the tape and I still can’t figure it out. Shoot the gun in the air, warning, tase a person, shoot them in the leg, shoot them in the behind. Stop them somehow. But if the only solution is to kill a teenager, there’s something wrong with this.”
BODYCAM FOOTAGE OF MA’KHIA BRYANT SHOOTING RELEASED: Another police-related death was caught on bodycam in Columbus, Ohio when 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was fatally shot by police— @JoyVBehar, @Sunny Hostin and @MeghanMcCain react. https://t.co/BxC0qOlZXu pic.twitter.com/c8hSQmros1
— The View (@TheView) April 22, 2021
“Even if the cop had to do it, there’s something wrong with it,” she said. “I can’t explain it any better than that … We keep talking about this over and over again and kids still keep getting shot.”
Behar’s suggestion comes a day after an unidentified reporter was slammed for asking Interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods if the Columbus officer could have shot Bryant in the arm or leg instead of aiming for center mass.
“Can an officer shoot the leg, can they shoot somewhere that would not result in a fatal wound?” the reporter asked.
Woods explained officers are not trained to shoot the leg because it’s too small a target.
Hostin, however, agreed with Behar that the officer in question had several alternatives and she proceeded to pose questions to suggest systemic racism exists within U.S. policing.
Hostin, however, agreed with Behar that the officer in question had several alternatives and she proceeded to pose questions to suggest systemic racism exists within U.S. policing.
NBC News is under fire for editing the 911 call to omit the mention of a stabbing, and for failing to show the part of the body camera footage that captured Bryant lunging at another young woman with a knife.
Story cited here.