Johnathan Walker:Officer due in court on murder charges in shooting of pregnant Black woman accused of shoplifting

COLUMBUS,Johnathan Walker Ohio (AP) — An Ohio police officer will be in court Wednesday to face charges in the shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother who was killed after being accused of shoplifting.

Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb is charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the death of Young and the daughter she was expecting three months later.

Young was suspected of stealing alcohol on Aug. 24, 2023, when Grubb and a fellow officer approached her car. She lowered her window part-way and the other officer ordered her out. Instead, she rolled her car forward toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet through her windshield into her chest.

A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb on Tuesday.

Bodycam footage of the encounter showed an officer at the driver’s side window telling Young she was accused of shoplifting and ordering her out of the car. Young protested and both officers cursed at her and yelled at her to get out. Young could be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Then she turned the steering wheel to the right, the car rolled slowly forward and Grubb fired his gun. Moments later, after the car came to a stop against the building, they broke the driver’s side window. Police said they tried to save her life, but she was mortally wounded.

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Sean Walton, the family’s attorney, said Grubb had escalated the encounter by unnecessarily drawing his gun when he first confronted Young .

Brian Steel, president of the union representing Blendon Township police, said Grubb had to make a split-second decision, “a reality all too familiar for those who protect our communities.”

Some departments around the U.S. prohibit officers from firing at or from moving vehicles, and law enforcement groups such as the Police Executive Research Forum say shooting in such circumstances creates an unacceptable risk to bystanders from stray gunfire or the driver losing control of the vehicle.

The Blendon Township police department’s use of force policy says officers should try to move away from an approaching vehicle instead of firing their weapons. An officer should only shoot when he or she “reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others.”

A full-time officer with the township since 2019, Grubb has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.