An Ohio police officer was indicted Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and other charges in the shooting death of Takia Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black woman who was killed after she was accused of shoplifting last August.
Young was suspected of stealing bottles of alcohol when Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb and a fellow officer approached her car. The other officer ordered her to get out. Instead, she advanced toward Grubb, who fired a bullet through her windshield into her chest. Her daughter also died three months later.
A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. A warrant has been issued for his arrest under the indictment.
Brian Steele, executive vice president of the union representing Blendon Township police, called the indictment extremely disappointing. “Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a decision on the spur of the moment, which is an all too familiar reality for those who protect our communities,” he said in a statement.
Young’s grandmother, Nadine Young, said the officer should not have pulled out his gun when he first confronted him.
“He took so much from us. It’s not fair. We don’t have him or the baby,” she said Tuesday.
He said the past year has been difficult for his family, which includes his granddaughter’s two young sons. “It’s been agonizing, it’s been a whirlwind of hurt and pain,” he said.
Family members called for the officer to be charged immediately following the Aug. 24 shooting. After viewing bodycam footage of the officer firing his gun, the family called his actions a “gross abuse of power and authority,” especially considering Young was accused of a relatively minor offense.
In the video, an officer sitting at the driver’s side window tells Young she is accused of shoplifting and orders her to get out of the car. Young resists, both officers curse at her and yell at her to get out, and Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”
A few seconds later, she turns the steering wheel to the right, the car slowly moves forward and Grubb fires his gun. A few moments later, when the car stops in front of the building, they break the driver’s side window. Police said they tried to save her life, but she was seriously injured.
The family’s attorney, Sean Walton, said the law is clear about when an officer can use deadly force.
“In no case is a police officer responsible for killing a person who steals from a shop,” he said.
Some departments in the United States have prohibited officers from shooting at or from moving vehicles, and law enforcement groups such as the Police Executive Research Forum say that firing in such circumstances poses an unacceptable risk to bystanders of being accidentally shot or of the driver losing control of the vehicle.
The Blendon Township Police Department’s use-of-force policy states that officers should attempt to drive away from an approaching vehicle rather than firing their weapon. An officer should only open fire if he or she “reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat from the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is being used on the officer or others.”
The encounter between Young and police was one in a disturbing series of fatal shootings of black adults and children by Ohio police officers, and came after numerous incidents of police brutality against black people across the country over the past several years.
After the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation completed its investigation into the shooting last December, a special prosecutor was appointed to oversee the case. The prosecutor then presented evidence to a grand jury over two days. Grand juries do not consider guilt but whether there is enough evidence to prosecute.
Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the department has begun a disciplinary review now that Grubb has been charged. He has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
“No one at Blendon Township has made any judgment on whether or not Officer Grubb acted within the law,” the police chief said in a statement. “However, since the individuals charged cannot legally possess a gun, the indictment leaves us with no choice but to begin the disciplinary process.”