Police shot a woman and her baby. Independence paid up. Where’s the apology? | Porter
The city of Independence recently settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of Maria Pike and the father of her infant child Destinii Hope for almost $6 million. While I cannot begin to imagine the pain and grief their family has endured since the fatal shooting nearly two years ago at the Oval Spring Apartments in Independence, at least they were compensated a great deal for the unfathomable tragedy.
But I couldn't help but to think: Where’s the public apology?
Because of liability issues, it is very rare for law enforcement agencies to offer a mea culpa to the families of people slain by officers, and I certainly understand letting the legal process play out as it has in this case.
Yet these sorts of formal apologies aren’t unheard of. In recent years, police officials in Phoenix and San Francisco have made amends after highly publicized and unjustified officer-involved shootings.
No amount of money could ever bring back Pike or Destinii, but the least Independence city officials could do is admit the horrible tragedy could have and should have been avoided and publicly admitted as such.
A multimillion-dollar payout, perhaps the largest this region has ever seen, speaks volumes, however.
No severance for officers
In a statement, the city admitted that the officers involved — Jordan White and Chad Cox — did nothing wrong. White fired the shots that struck both Pike and her baby, police officials have said. At a press conference last spring, former police Chief Adam Dustman told reporters that Cox was inside Pike’s apartment when White fired his service weapon. A third officer, identified by Dustman as Derek Karr, arrived at the apartment with a mental health professional just as White began shooting.
On a positive note: Neither White nor Cox remains on the force, city spokeswoman Sherae Honeycutt told me this week. Good. Because of their actions that fateful day, neither one of them deserves to serve the people of Independence or anywhere else.
According to Mike O’Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, White’s peace officer license is still valid — but I don't think it should be. Cox’s peace officer license is inactive, according to O’Connell.
Citing privacy laws regarding personnel matters, Honeycutt was unable to tell me whether either officer resigned or was fired. She did confirm that no severance packages were involved.
“Both of the officers are no longer with the Independence Police Department,” Honeycutt wrote in an email. “One of the officers ended service in August of 2025 and the other ended service in February of this year. With the separation, there were no circumstances that constituted a settlement or severance package.”
$6 million question
So here’s the $6 million question that remains unanswered: If none of the officers involved did anything wrong, why did the city pay out what was reported to be the largest settlement in a police brutality case ever in Missouri?
While it's true neither White nor Cox were found criminally liable in the shooting — Jackson County prosecutors determined Pike posed a threat to the officers when she lunged at them with a knife while holding Destinii — a valid argument could be made then, and now, that neither of them is completely innocent either.
And that is what gnaws at me most. The lack of accountability in this case is astounding.
“This settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Independence Police Department officers but does represent an agreement by all parties to move forward following the tragic loss of two lives,” the city’s statement reads. “November 7, 2024, was a devastating day for the families of Maria Pike and Destinii, for our officers, and for the entire Independence community.”
In its statement, Independence acknowledged that law enforcement is a difficult and complex profession in which officers are often required to make split‑second decisions in unpredictable and dangerous situations — and I wholeheartedly agree with that assertion.
But I still can’t understand why it's so difficult to admit the officers involved made incredibly poor decisions that day. They are no longer on the force and won’t face criminal charges. I see no harm in telling the public and letting Pike’s family know how sorry they all are for their loss.
“We recognize the weight of those decisions and the impact they have on those directly involved as well as countless others,” the city wrote in its statement. “The City remains committed to serving the people of Independence with due care and accountability in all situations.”
In settlement talks, it is widely known that defendants push for these types of denials of wrongdoing, which very likely is what occurred in this case. Quite honestly, I don’t blame attorneys representing Pike and Destinii’s loved ones for not pushing for a public apology with the amount of money that was at stake.
But when a mother that the family contends was having a mental health episode and her infant child are fatally shot by police, the least city leaders could do is say “sorry” for the actions of their officers.
