Democratic Mayor Andrew Ginther requested a federal probe into the Columbus police force Wednesday after Ma’Khia Bryant’s family pleaded for an investigation into the April 20th killing, according to ABC News.
Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, was shot and killed by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon after Bryant lunged towards another female with a knife. Bryant ignored multiple requests from Reardon to “get down,” according to the officer’s bodycam video.
The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, is calling on the Justice Dept. to investigate the city’s police department due to “fierce opposition” to reform within the agency. https://t.co/9nc4RX3DCo
— NBCBLK (@NBCBLK) April 29, 2021
The attorney for Bryant’s family, Michelle Martin, called for an investigation Wednesday from the Department of Justice (DOJ) into the shooting, according to ABC.
“We are here, and we’re going to investigate every agency that had a time and an opportunity to prevent Ma’Khia’s death,” Martin said. “We will push for those investigations beyond this shooting. All systems failed her.” (RELATED: Fatal Police Shooting Of Ma’Khia Bryant Began Over A Fight About Housekeeping)
Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein wrote a Wednesday letter to Acting Deputy Director Robert Chapman of the DOJ saying, “Simply put: We need to change the culture of the Columbus Division of Police.”
Ginther and Klein asked the DOJ to “conduct a review of the Columbus Division of Police and issue findings that: evaluate current reform efforts, determine whether they are appropriate and sufficient, and where lacking, make additional recommendations for change.”
The letter went on to say that the city of Columbus is “committed to reform.”
“We must align the reality of how we are policing with the community expectations of how we should be policing. We recognize this can only be done through the implementation of new and best practices that will make Columbus a national model in 21st century policing,” the letter read in part.