Fox News contributor and civil rights attorney Leo Terrell flamed NBA star LeBron James on Thursday for his now-deleted tweet targeting police officer Nicholas Reardon, who fatally shot 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.
Terrell argued during an appearance on “Hannity” that James “owes this officer an apology,” because he was a “hero” for saving the life of another black girl. Terrell also slammed “the left” for allegedly pushing the idea of “racism” onto every situation involving a white police officer and a black suspect. (RELATED: ‘Justified From A Policing Perspective’: CNN Analyst Stands By Officer’s Actions In Shooting Of Columbus Teen)
“Well let me tell you right now, LeBron James definitely owes this officer an apology,” Terrell said after host Sean Hannity asked him about James’ comments on Twitter. “This officer is a hero. A hero! But see, what’s happening with the left, and with LeBron, and with the extreme left, they want to conflate every case involving only a white officer with a black suspect in a situation where it’s racism.”
Terrell went on to mock the idea that Reardon would be “racist” because he “saved the life of a black girl.” He then alleged that James is “a liar” whenever the basketball star says he’s tired of police officers killing black Americans, because “there’s more black on black crime” than police officer-involved shootings of unarmed blacks.
“How many African Americans have been killed, unarmed, in 2019? Twelve! Twelve! But if you listen to the left they believe it happens every day, day and night, day and night,” Terrell concluded. “I’ll tell you what the ultimate goal is, Sean. They want to put every police officer in jail, or they want to totally dismantle the police department. The extremists do not like law and order. That’s the substance of it. They don’t want it.”
According to USA Today, there were actually 13 deaths of unarmed black men shot by police in 2019.
James first tweeted an image of Reardon on Wednesday with the caption “YOU’RE NEXT,” along with the hashtag “#ACCOUNTABILITY.” He later deleted the tweet, claiming it was being “used to create more hate.” James received sharp criticism, however, Twitter refused to address whether the post violated the site’s terms of service.