In yet another case of a police officer-based shooting, a knife-wielding mom and her child have been shot to death.
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Police need to be highly trained in both self-defense and the art of disarming. This way, when a small woman, holding a baby, and outnumbered, lunges with a kitchen knife, they can respond. Instead, this police officer resorted to using his weapon, resulting in the death of a mom and her baby.
As Maria Pike, 34, spent time with her 2-month-old baby, police charged in and started making demands. Footage shows that she was visibly distressed and in a bad way with her mental health. Rather than dealing with the situation, involving a baby, they escalated.
The mom lunged for a kitchen knife, grabbing it from a nightstand. She moved towards the police officers, still holding her baby, and lifting the knife in a threatening manner. Rather than acting professionally and calmly, disarming the woman, they opened fire.
Despite the mom only having one arm to use the knife, and facing two trained officers, she was shot and killed. The gunshots also killed the 2-month-old baby she was carrying in her arms. The two of them died in their own home, in front of the baby's father.
Will There Be Justice For The Knife Weilding Mom
It has taken a full three weeks since the shooting for the footage to be released. Since it happened, the police have remained silent about how the mom was able to reach for a knife, or why she was shot.
Now, the footage has been released from the bodycams, heavily edited to only four minutes. It has clearly been cut, with a lot of the build-up and end missing. They also refuse to explain a number of elements of the report, such as how the knife the mom used was "concealed."
Currently, it looks like the police officers have used excess force. Yet again, undertrained police with no gun control have killed innocent people. This time, thought, it was a mom and a baby. However, we'll wait to see what the final investigation brings up.
Sheryl Ferguson, founder of police accountability activism organization Time 4 Justice spoke out about the fact it was just a knife the mom was holding. "We have seen police de-escalate people coming at them with machetes and all kinds of life-ending options such as this woman did, but they were able to subdue the event without killing the victim." Proper training would have resulted in a measured de-escalation.
Currently, the three Independence officers involved have been put on administrative leave.
