The Ohio Police authorities released body camera footage Friday of the fatal
police shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black woman.
The footage, posted in a video with retired Sheriff Russ Martin’s
analysis, came from the body camera of the two officers involved in the act, which took place Aug. 24 at a grocery store in Blendon
Township.
Scenes from the video shows police officers already at the grocery store
on an unrelated call when a store employee approached them about Young,
who had allegedly stolen several items.
One of the officers immediately approached Young where she was sitting in her parked car and demanded she exit the vehicle.
Young rolled down her window and asked, “For what?” While the second
officer stood in front of her car as the first continued
to instruct her to exit her car.
The video then showed Young slowly accelerate forward toward the
officer who was standing in front of her car. He yelled at her to stop
before firing a single shot that struck her.
“The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired
one shot through the front windshield,” Martin said in the video. “The
body camera footage I’ve reviewed also confirms the officer was directly
in the path of the car.”
After she was hit with a slug, Young’s car continued rolling forward for about
50 feet before it appeared to hit the outside grocery store wall.
Officers smashed the driver’s side window and pulled Young out of the
car.
Though it was not disclosed by the Franklin County coroner’s office where
Young was hit, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said officers
applied a chest seal to Young’s wound with the help of an emergency room
doctor who happened to be on site.
But the medical attention did not save Young’s life — she died later
that evening. Her unborn daughter, due in November, also did not
survive.
The footage released Friday came after Young’s family had the chance to view it with their representation.
According to attorney representing the family, Sean Walton, they
had grown frustrated with the delay in the video release. They are now
calling for the officers who were involved to be named.
The unidentified officers were put on paid administrative leave while
the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting. The
first officer, who did not fire his weapon, has returned from leave and
is on back patrol duty.
Belford told the Columbus Dispatch
Friday that the first officer 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 allegedly struck
by the vehicle and was a victim of attempted vehicular assault.
Walton told The Associated Press on Thursday that the community would be “outraged” by the video.
“She was an unarmed pregnant mother of two,” Walton said. “It goes beyond the unjustifiable.”
An online effort to pay for Young’s funeral expenses has raised nearly $7,000.
