Police in a suburb of Columbus released body-camera footage on Friday that captures the shocking moment when an officer fatally shot a pregnant Black woman last week inside her car in the supermarket parking lot when the suspected shoplifter refused to leave her car and accelerated toward him.
Ta'Kiya Young, 21, a mother of two young children, was expecting her third child when she tragically lost her life inside her car in Blendon Township, Ohio, last Thursday after rolling her car into a police officer, The unborn child also died. The Columbus branch of the N.A.A.C.P. has demanded the officer, who, shown in the video, fired his weapon while Young was driving forward, be fired from his job.
Spine-chilling Moment
The video footage shows that shortly before Young was shot in her black sedan outside a Kroger store in Blendon Township on August 24. Officers can be heard repeatedly asking her to "get out of the car!"
When Young asked why she was being told to exit her vehicle, which was parked in a handicap spot, she was told, "They said you stole stuff, do not leave."
Young, who was a mother of two sons aged 3 and 6, responded by saying, "I didn't do s–t, the other girls were taking [stuff]."
One of the cops, who is standing at her driver's side window, says, "Get out!" before he slams his fist against the window.
The video then shows a second officer standing at the front of her car with his hand resting on the hood. He can be heard yelling, "Get out of the f–king car!" When Young accelerates toward him, he fires a single shot through her windshield.
There are screams audible on the video, and the car proceeds to move slowly through the parking lot, swerving around a support column on the building before ultimately crashing into the brick front of the grocery store.
However, the cops continue to chase her, shouting, "Stop the goddamn car!" while pointing a gun toward her driver's side window.
The second officer then tries to open her locked door but struggles to do so. He uses his elbow to break the partially opened window to reach Young, who is slumped over the center console.
Blendon Township Chief John Belford told the Associated Press that the officers then provided medical aid to Young, although this part of the incident was not captured in the video footage.
Almost Murder
Young was later pronounced dead, and her unborn child also did not survive. Her child was expected to be born in November.
"She was so excited to have this little girl," Nadine Young, her grandmother, said at a news conference Wednesday. "She has her two little boys, but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed."
Young's family had the opportunity to review the footage before it was made public. They expressed their views through their lawyer, Sean Walton, who said, "The video did nothing but confirm their fears that Ta'Kiya was murdered unjustifiably...and it was just heartbreaking for them to see Ta'Kiya having her life taken away under such ridiculous circumstances," Walton told AP. "Ta'Kiya's family is heartbroken."
"Having viewed the footage in its entirety, it is undeniable that Ta'Kiya's death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority."
Blendon Township has not disclosed the identities of the officers involved, citing Marsy's Law, which is intended to protect the victims of the crime.
However, Young's family has identified one of the officers as Connor Grubb, who has been part of Blendon Township since 2019, according to records from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
The department explained that the first officer, who did not fire his weapon, had his arm and hand inside the driver's window when Young accelerated, making him a victim of misdemeanor assault.
The second officer, who fired his weapon, was struck by the vehicle and considered a victim of attempted vehicular assault, according to the department's statement.
The officers are on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations looks into the matter.
Walton mentioned that the family became increasingly frustrated due to delays in the police department's release of the footage to the public.
Blendon Township Chief John Belford explained that the delay was a result of a limited staff tasked with processing the video and appropriately redacting specific content, such as officers' faces and badge numbers, as required by Ohio law.
Meanwhile, the officers involved remain on paid administrative leave as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations conducts its investigation into the incident.
