As Twitchy regular @AGHamilton29 reminded us last night, journos really, really need to do a better job reporting on officer-involved shootings:
I saw a lot of these tweets earlier today. I followed my usual rule of not commenting until I saw the video or got more details.
Now bodycam footage has been released and you can literally see the girl trying to stab someone forcing the officers to fire.https://t.co/CdKPHFoa9C https://t.co/KeWJzNc0Z7
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2021
“We have a serious problem when the outrage mobs can’t wait a few hours for the truth”:
Did a quick search and all the usual suspects jumped on this. Spread it to tens of thousands of people as an unjustified shooting. That's also how the Daily Beast article framed it. We have a serious problem when the outrage mobs can't wait a few hours for the truth.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2021
“And I’m sorry, but if you can watch that video and see this shot of her about to stab someone right before the officer fired and think it’s an improper use of force, there really isn’t much to discuss”:
And I'm sorry, but if you can watch that video and see this shot of her about to stab someone right before the officer fired and think it's an improper use of force, there really isn't much to discuss. pic.twitter.com/b832RwXI1O
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2021
AG tracked back “a lot of the misinformation today about this shooting” to this Daily Beast article by Blake Montgomery “which used a false second-hand account from the girl’s aunt as the primary source”:
A lot of the misinformation today about this shooting started with this irresponsible DB article from @blakersdozen, which used a false second-hand account from the girl's aunt as the primary source. pic.twitter.com/WRbrC69yrN
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2021
Other news outlets quoted from this aunt as well:
BTW many of the articles/tweets claim she called the police, but that's also based on what the same Aunt said.
The actual 911 call seemed to be about her trying to stab the other girls. https://t.co/WRyuN66Ouk
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2021
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Editor’s note: We’ve changed the spelling of Ma’Khia Bryant’s first name from “Makiyah” in our headline and post to align with the correct spelling as reported by the media at large.
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