COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio police officer charged in the shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a pregnant black mother who was killed after he was accused of shoplifting, felt threatened when she rolled her car toward him, the officer’s attorney said Wednesday.
Young was suspected of theft from alcohol on August 24, 2023, when Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb and a colleague approached her car. She rolled down her window partway and the other officer told her to get out. Instead, she drove her car toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet through the windshield into her chest.
Grubb wore a prison uniform when he appeared in court via video from jail on Wednesday after turning himself in to authorities a day earlier. A judge set the officer’s bail at $250,000, which was posted shortly after the hearing, according to court records. Grubb has been a full-time township officer since 2019 and has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
On Tuesday, Grubb was indicted by a grand jury on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in connection with the deaths of Young and her daughter, who was due three months later.
Bodycam video of the encounter showed an officer at the driver’s side window telling Young that she was being accused of shoplifting and ordering her to get out. 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.
Mark Collins, one of the officer’s attorneys, told reporters after Young’s arraignment that the video showed the shooting was justified.
“The reason he fired his weapon is because he felt that a collision with the car could cause him serious physical injury or even death,” Collins said.
Sean Walton, the family’s attorney, said Grubb escalated the argument by unnecessarily drawing his gun during his first confrontation with Young.
“The evidence speaks for itself,” he said on Wednesday. He was frustrated that the judge did not set a higher bail given that two people had died.
Brian Steel, president of the union representing Blendon Township police, said Grubb had to make a split-second decision, “a reality all too familiar to those who protect our communities.”
Some U.S. police departments prohibit officers from shooting at or from moving vehicles, and law enforcement organizations such as the Police Executive Research Forum say shooting in such circumstances poses an unacceptable risk to bystanders who could be affected by ricochets or the driver losing control of the vehicle.
The Blendon Township Police Department’s use of force policy states that officers should attempt to move away from an approaching vehicle rather than firing their weapons. An officer should only shoot if he or she “reasonably believes that no other reasonable means are available to avert the immediate threat posed by the vehicle or if deadly force not posed by the vehicle is being directed at the officer or other persons.”
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Seewer reported from Toledo.
