A Missouri family has reached a $5.8 million settlement with the city of Independence after a police officer shot and killed Maria Pike, 34, and her 11-week-old daughter, Destinii Hope, on Nov. 7, 2024. The family alleged that officers escalated the encounter before a mental-health co-responder could arrive.
Atlanta Black Star reported that Pike’s parents, Tom and Lynne Pike, will receive about $2.9 million, as will Destinii’s father, Mitchell Holder Jr. Officers Jordan White and Chad Cox arrived at the apartment around 1:43 p.m. after a domestic assault report. Holder’s mother, Talisa Coombs, said Pike had hit her, while Holder reportedly gave officers a different account.
According to the lawsuit, the officers found Pike holding Destinii in a bedroom closet. Her family said she had been dealing with postpartum depression. The officers asked her to hand over the baby and called for a mental-health co-responder.
The moments before the shooting
The family alleges that the officers did not wait for the co-responder to arrive. According to the lawsuit, White put on black latex gloves as he and Cox prepared to restrain Pike and take the child. “When the officers made the decision to physically remove D.H. from Maria’s arms, Maria had not been threatening to them, D.H., or anyone else,” the lawsuit alleges, referring to Destinii by her initials.
The lawsuit also acknowledges that Pike resisted and raised a knife. Body camera footage released by police shows Pike grabbing a knife and moving toward an officer, and officials have said the officer backed into a closet with no space to retreat. White later told investigators he believed she would kill him. He fired while she was holding the baby; Cox did not fire.
The suit lists gunshot wounds to Pike’s back, neck and wrist. It also lists a gunshot wound to Destinii’s head. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Cities across the country have paired police officers with mental-health clinicians to respond to crises, though some encounters have still ended in fatal shootings. In Connecticut, a former officer was charged with manslaughter after a state investigation found he failed to de-escalate with a man in a mental-health crisis.
The family says the co-responder heard the gunshots upon reaching the apartment. “The female mental health ‘co-responder’ had arrived at the doorway of the apartment and heard the gunshots,” the claim states. “Had the officers waited just a few seconds longer before escalating the situation, the ‘co-responder’ would have intervened and assisted.” Jackson County prosecutors declined to charge White in March 2025, saying they could not prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt or overcome his likely self-defense claim.
The family wants changes to crisis response
The family sued White and Cox in July 2025, alleging battery, negligence, and false imprisonment. Its core argument is that a crisis call requires patience, even from trained officers. A judge approved the settlement in May 2026, and the amount became public in June.
Similar questions were raised after police in Maryland shot an autistic man who had called for help while in a suicidal crisis. That case also centered on how trained officers respond to people in crisis.
The city said the deal does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Independence Police Department officers. In its statement, the city described the settlement as an agreement by all parties to move forward following the loss of two lives.
Family attorney Tom Porto said he wants the department to change how it handles mental-health emergencies. “What good is one of the largest settlements in the history of this kind of work if there is no change?” he said.
Published: Oct 25, 2026 10:45 am