An Ohio police officer accused of shooting and killing a pregnant woman has been charged with murder, according to court documents.
Brendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb allegedly shot and killed Takiya Young, 21, in a grocery store parking lot last August after confronting her for suspected shoplifting. After being asked multiple times by Grubb and another officer to exit her vehicle, Young slowly accelerated her car toward the officer, who was struck, police said.
Grubb was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of murder, four counts of assault and two counts of manslaughter, according to online records filed Tuesday.
Body camera footage of the Aug. 24 incident shows officers approaching a vehicle with Young in the driver’s seat.
“Get out of the car,” the officer can be heard saying repeatedly.
“For what?” Young asks.
“They say you stole something. Don’t leave,” he replies.
A second officer then stood in front of Young’s car, placed his hands on the hood and eventually pointed his gun at her through the windshield.
Takiya Young. Courtesy of Sean Walton Jr./via WCMH
“I didn’t steal anything,” Young said.
“In that case, please get out,” the co-pilot says.
An officer is seen standing in front of Young’s car, pointing his gun at her.
“Get out of your goddamn car,” the second officer says.
“No,” Young can be heard saying, then asking, “Are you going to shoot me?”
“Get out of the car,” the officer responded, banging on Young’s car window with one hand and holding onto the slightly open window with the other.
Seconds later, Young is seen turning the steering wheel and driving off, a sound is heard, and Grabb fires a shot at close range into the windshield and moves to the driver’s side.
Brendon County Police Chief John Belford said in a statement after the shooting that Young struck one of his officers with his vehicle, causing an officer to “fire one round through the windshield,” killing Young. Belford said the officer was the victim of an attempted vehicular assault.
Belford also said Young was the victim of misdemeanor assault because he drove away with part of another officer’s arm trapped in the driver’s side window. Video footage shows the officer’s fingers gripping the window as Young tried to drive away.
Grubb was placed on administrative leave after the incident, and the other officer was also initially placed on administrative leave, but was reinstated after Belford reviewed the body camera footage and determined there was no reason to place him on administrative leave, the report said.
Attorney Sean Walton and Takiya Young’s grandmother, Nadine Young, react after an Ohio police officer was indicted on charges including murder in the shooting death of Takiya Young on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. Patrick Aftoura Orsagos/AP
A law firm representing Young’s family said in a statement that the indictment is a “solemn victory in the pursuit of justice” for the 21-year-old and his unborn daughter, but that it is only a step, not the end of the road.
“Fortunately, the grand jury’s decision reflects the collective conscience of the community and recognizes this tragedy for what it truly is: a murder that demands empathy and justice,” the statement said.
Nadine Young, 61, said last year that her granddaughter is mother to two boys, ages 3 and 6, and is expecting a girl in November.
“An unarmed black woman was murdered. That’s what we know. Two children without a mother,” she said at the time.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Nadine Young said she had dedicated most of her life to raising Young, and that she had also raised Young’s sons.
“It was painful for me,” Young said. “It was just a whirlwind of hurt and pain.”
Nadine said Grubb did not need to kill her granddaughter and called him a “bully with a badge.” Young’s 22nd birthday was August 1st and her youngest child’s birthday was July 29th.
“Her next son was born on August 18th, and mine was born on the 19th. My son was born yesterday,” Nadine said, “so we were all kind of celebrating together.”
Sean Walton, an attorney representing the family, said Grubb did not handle the situation last year the way police are trained to do.
“Everything he did made the situation worse and that’s why Takiya was killed,” Walton said, adding that Grubb should never have pulled out the gun.
Walton said Grubb should be fired immediately after being charged. The Blendon Township Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Young’s grandmother said she wants Grubb to stay in prison for the rest of his life.
“That would be justice for me, for our family and for her sons,” she said.
