Look, I don’t think I need to remind you that we drag CNN, Don Lemon, and Chris Cuomo a lot here. They deserve it most of the time since their commentaries are either idiotic or outright unhinged. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut, and this was a big one regarding this officer-involved shooting in Columbus, Ohio. The woman who was shot and killed by police has been identified as well (via Columbus Dispatch):
In an unprecedented move, Columbus police showed body camera footage of the shooting of a 16-year-old girl by a Columbus police officer just hours after the incident on the Southeast Side.
[…]
The video shows an officer approaching a driveway with a group of young people standing there. In the video, it appears that the 16-year-old, identified now as Ma’Khia Bryant, who was moments later shot by police, pushes or swings at a person, who falls to the ground.
Bryant then appears to swing a knife at a girl who is on the hood of a car, and the officer fires his weapon what sounds like four times, striking Bryant, who died a short time later
[WARNING: graphic content]
Folks, both of these men delivered some grade-A reason in their commentary over this shooting, which is something their colleagues at NBC News didn’t do; they edited a 911 call to manufacture a fake narrative. Cuomo and Lemon took into account split-second decisions by law enforcement, the situation at hand when police arrived at this scene, and the very crucial detail that this 16-year-old girl was armed. The 911 caller also said a fight broke out and that someone was trying to stab people.
I really do have to commend these two because I’d thought they’d be the first to jump on the outrage train. They didn’t. They also noted something about the incident itself that might be taboo for the far left: parenting. The father is right there—why didn’t he intervene, which is an observation that was repeated to Lemon. He mentioned this on-air as well (via NewsBusters):
Lemon, who normally railed against the police, built off of Cuomo by explaining how difficult it was for cops who arrive at scenes that are pure chaos and told off the peanut gallery:
When they roll up on the scene, they see people tussling around. Someone has a knife. And their job is to protect and serve. Every life on that scene. And if they see someone who is in the process of taking a life, what is that decision, what decision do they have to make?
And I that people say, “Well, you can do this you can do that.” Tasers don't work the way guns work.
Imagining the woman who was on the verge of being stabbed was his “sister, niece, wife,” Lemon argued that the cop was right to protect a life by taking one. “And if someone is trying to take a life, on that scene, do you protect the life of the person trying to take the life, or do you protect the life of the person whose life is in imminent danger at that point,” he rhetorically asked.
Adding: “That at a certain distance, a stabbing, a knife, can be much more lethal than a bullet. And especially if you get stabbed in the artery, in the temple, somewhere that you're going to bleed out.”
Later in the conversation, Cuomo seemed to hint that he agreed with one woman he spoke to who questioned where the parents were, and why did the father get involved in the fight when the cops showed up:
An older woman of color said to me, I was like, “man, this is really hard.” The piece of tape where the guy says what he says, “you shot my baby.” She goes, “shame on him.” I said, “why? He just lost a family member, I don't know if it's his kid or whatever it was.” And the response was, “he came running out of that house. Why didn't he stop it? What were they doing? Why didn't he stop it? Why did the police have to come and control that situation? Why didn't he?”
I’d never thought I’d see the day to hear two of CNN’s most biased hosts offer nuance and a rational analysis of this situation, along with aptly noting that tasers don’t always work especially at that range.
Bravo, guys—but I’m sure we’ll find another commentary that will be stunningly wrong. For now, kudos are in order for telling the truth because a lot of your colleagues simply are unable to do that nowadays.
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