A Missouri police officer shot and killed a mother and her infant daughter during an encounter that officers escalated instead of waiting for a mental-health co-responder who was moments away, according to a lawsuit resolved through a $5.89 million settlement.
Maria Pike, 34, was holding her 11-week-old daughter, Destinii Hope, when Independence police officers Jordan White and Chad Cox confronted her inside the apartment she shared with the baby’s father on Nov. 7, 2024. Her family said she had been struggling with postpartum depression.
Body-camera footage shows Pike retrieving a knife from a nightstand and moving toward officers. She then lunged toward Cox before turning toward White, who fired four shots.
The family’s lawsuit alleges officers created the confrontation by preparing to forcibly separate mother and child rather than waiting for the mental-health professional they had summoned, similar to an unrelated incident where a Black man in Detroit was shot and killed by a court bailiff while a mental health response team was minutes away.
“The female mental health ‘co-responder’ had arrived at the doorway of the apartment and heard the gunshots,” the claim states.
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“Had the officers waited just a few seconds longer before escalating the situation, the ‘co-responder’ would have intervened and assisted.”
A judge approved the settlement in May 2026. Its amount became public in June. Pike’s parents, Tom and Lynne Pike, received a combined $2.9 million, while Destinii’s father, Mitchell Holder Jr., received another $2.9 million.
Earlier Warning Signs
Pike’s reported mental-health struggles predated Destinii’s birth on Aug. 22, 2024. Holder told The Kansas City Star that she described feeling depressed and overstimulated during pregnancy.
Family accounts and investigative records described more serious difficulties after childbirth, including suicidal thoughts and a psychiatric hospitalization.
Records reviewed by KSHB showed police visited the apartment 13 times in the two years before the shooting.
The station also reported at least five police interactions during Destinii’s life.
Around Oct. 25, police took Pike and Destinii to separate hospitals after an incident in the woods near Missouri Highway 291.
Holder told The Star that Pike accidentally fell asleep on the baby, awoke to find her unconscious, performed chest compressions, and called 911.
Investigative records also contained an officer’s allegation that Pike tried to “smother the baby.” A medical-record summary described her falling asleep on the child. The published accounts do not resolve that discrepancy.
Destinii was temporarily placed in foster care before being placed with Holder. Pike received psychiatric care and left the hospital around Oct. 31, according to records reviewed by KSHB.
The Police Response
White and Cox were dispatched to the apartment around 1:43 p.m. on Nov. 7 to investigate an alleged domestic assault, according to the lawsuit.
Holder’s mother, Talisa Coombs, reported that Pike had struck her. Holder gave officers a different account.
He said his mother entered through a sliding glass door after he refused to let her inside. He and Pike then forced her out after she refused to leave, the claim states.
Officers entered and found Pike holding Destinii in a bedroom closet. She later moved to the bed. They tried to persuade her to hand over the child and summoned a mental-health co-responder.
The lawsuit alleges that, instead of waiting for help, officers moved closer and prepared to forcibly separate Pike from her daughter.
White put on black latex gloves as the officers discussed a plan for Cox to restrain Pike while White took Destinii, according to the claim.
“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 Fatal Shooting
The petition acknowledges that Pike resisted and raised a knife. Investigative records reviewed by KSHB describe her retrieving it from a bedside table and lunging toward Cox before turning toward White.
White told investigators he believed Pike was going to kill him. He opened fire while she was still holding Destinii. Cox did not fire.
The lawsuit describes gunshot wounds to Pike’s back, neck and wrist and a gunshot wound to Destinii’s head. An officer carried the wounded baby outside, and another officer drove them to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The family alleges the shooting could have been prevented had officers waited for the mental-health co-responder.
Jackson County prosecutors declined to charge White in March 2025, saying they could not prove criminal wrongdoing beyond a reasonable doubt or overcome his anticipated self-defense claim.
The Settlement
Pike’s parents and Holder sued White and Cox in July 2025, alleging battery, negligence and false imprisonment.
“Officers ignored mental health-response protocols and turned a non-violent postpartum mental health call into a fatal confrontation,” a news release from the office of the family’s attorney, Tom Porto, said.
Although officers initially responded to an alleged domestic assault, the family’s lawsuit challenges how they handled Pike’s apparent mental-health crisis once inside the apartment.
The city denied that the settlement represented an admission of wrongdoing.
“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 said in a statement.
Porto called for changes to the department’s mental-health emergency response.
“What good is one of the largest settlements in the history of this kind of work if there is no change?” he said.
