An Ohio police officer has been indicted on a murder charge after a woman who refused police commands to exit her vehicle was shot dead as she rolled her car into the officer.
Ta’Kiya Young, 21, who was pregnant, was killed in the August 2023 incident after police sought to detain Young in response to a shoplifting complaint, according to NBC.
Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb was charged with four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter, according to online records filed Tuesday.
Bodycam video posted to X shows police interacting with Young as she refused to comply.
“Out of the car,” an officer said repeatedly.
NEW: Ohio officer charged with murder in shooting of pregnant woman during shoplifting call pic.twitter.com/boTtaoulLc
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 13, 2024
“For what?” Young said.
“They said you stole stuff. Do not leave,” the officer said.
Do you think this officer should have been charged with murder?
As the officer tells Young to get out of her car, she said, “I’m not doing that.”
The video shows an officer’s hand still in the open window as the car moves away.
Video showed a second officer, Grubb, who stood in front of Young’s car, put his hand on the hood and pointed his gun at Young.
During the confrontation, Young told police “I didn’t steal s***,” according to NBC.
After more commands to get out of the car, Young refused, adding, “You gonna shoot me?”
The video posted to X shows the car moving, followed by one shot.
Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said that Young drove her car directly into an officer who “fired a single shot through the windshield,” according to NBC.
Belford said Grubb was a victim of attempted vehicular assault and that the officer who had to pull his hand from the open window was a victim of misdemeanor assault.
Nadine Young, the victim’s grandmother, boiled the issue down to race.
“An unarmed black female was killed. That’s what we know,” she said.
Young called Grubb “a bully with a badge” and wants him locked up for life.
Sean Walton, an attorney representing Young’s family, said Grubb is to blame for not de-escalating the incident.
“Everything he did escalated that situation, and that’s why Ta’Kiya was murdered,” Walton said.
