Nicholas Reardon is a police officer from Ohio who made headlines for shooting a black teenager in April of last year. The black teenager was Ma’Khia Bryant, and she died of her injuries after Reardon opened fire.
In testimony following the incident, Reardon said he discharged his firearm because Bryant was just about to violently stab another female teen called Shai-onta Craig with a knife.
Video evidence from the shooting revealed this to be literally correct, as Bryant was felled by the gunshot just as she was in the process of physically slashing the weapon.
Black Lives Matter (BLM), Joe Biden, the Democrats, and every other leftist tried to jump on the bandwagon and cry crocodile tears. Yes, it’s tragic that a young woman is gone too soon, but Byrant had been attacking someone else with a knife.
Now, Reardon has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
Ohio cop Nicholas Reardon cleared in fatal shooting of teenager Ma'Khia Bryant https://t.co/wcMn2Go5tF pic.twitter.com/mm9PkV2Wuj
— New York Post (@nypost) March 12, 2022
Reardon Cleared
The fact of the matter is that this whole situation is extremely tragic.
Whatever the fight was about between Bryant and the other young lady, it was certainly not worth dying over. Reardon made the hardest decision an officer has to make: to save a life by taking a life.
If he had stood there or just yelled to stop, the intended victim would likely have been slashed viciously and bled to death right there on the ground. She was backed up against a vehicle terrified as Bryant advanced rapidly swinging the knife.
The left’s attempts to frame this as a racist white cop not valuing the life of a black teen was completely bogus and racist misinformation. This was a very tense situation that could have gotten even worse or even ended with the deaths of Bryant and her intended victim if Reardon hesitated on opening fire.
Some have suggested that Reardon should have used a taser, and that’s certainly worth considering. However, it would have been a harder shot to make; it’s very unclear if he could have hit her from the distance he was from Bryant at the time she needed to be stopped.
Former civil rights group ACLU tweeted that Ma'Khia Bryant's police-involved death is evidence policing "cannot be reformed." Bryan was shot dead a split second before she was about to drive a knife into a black woman pinned against a car. https://t.co/Y8fM82q4wI
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 12, 2022
The Bottom Line
What happened between Ma’Khia Bryant and Shai-onta Craig was tragic and awful. Though the attempt by the left to paint Reardon as a racist monster was shameful and false.
He had to make a split-second decision and the failure to do so could have cost Craig her life.
This incident also shows just how dangerous knives can be, and reminds us that teenagers getting ahold of dangerous weapons and using them for crimes is far from the only danger out there.
Disturbed teens with firearms or explosives are also a big threat to us all and should be closely monitored.
