Ta’Kiya Young’s family urges officer’s arrest after video shows him killing the pregnant Black woman

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio authorities on Friday released bodycam video showing a police officer fatally shooting Ta’Kiya Young in her car in what her family denounced as a “gross misuse of power and authority” against the pregnant Black mother.

Sean Walton, an attorney representing Young’s family, said the video clearly shows that the Aug. 24 shooting of the 21-year-old woman was unjustified and he called for the officer to be fired and charged immediately. Walton also criticized police for not releasing the video footage for more than a week after the shooting.

Courtney Hergesheimer, The Columbus Dispatch via Associated Press

Friends comfort each other at a private candlelight vigil Friday in Columbus, Ohio, for 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young, who was shot and killed a day earlier by Blendon Township police outside an Ohio supermarket. Young was pregnant and due to give birth in November, according to her family. 

“Ta’Kiya’s family is heartbroken,” Walton said. “The video did nothing but confirm their fears that Ta’Kiya was murdered unjustifiably … and it was just heartbreaking for them to see Ta’Kiya having her life taken away under such ridiculous circumstances.”

A spokesman for the police union said calls to charge the officer before an investigation is complete are premature. The officer is on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard practice. A second officer who was on the scene has returned to active duty. Their names, races and ranks have not been released.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford called the shooting a tragedy.

“Ms. Young’s family is understandably very upset and grieving,” he said in a written statement released Friday morning. “While none of us can fully understand the depths of their pain, all of us can remember them in our prayers and give them the time and space to deal with this heartbreaking turn of events.”

Blendon Township Police via Associated Press

Bodycam video released Friday by Blendon Township police shows an officer pointing his gun at Ta’Kiya Young moments before shooting her through the windshield outside a grocery store in Blendon Township, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, on Aug. 24. The pregnant Black mother was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting. Her unborn daughter did not survive.  

Young’s death follows a troubling series of fatal shootings of Black adults and children by Ohio police and numerous occurrences of police brutality against Black people across the nation in recent years, events that have prompted widespread protests and demands for police reform.

Young’s father, grandmother and other relatives watched the video before its public release and released a statement Friday through Walton.

“It is undeniable that Ta’Kiya’s death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority,” the statement said. While viewing the video, the family felt “a lot of anger, a lot of frustration,” Walton said.

“More than anything, there was … a sense of just devastation, to know that this power system, these police officers, could stop her and so quickly take her life for no justifiable reason.”

The video shows an officer at the driver’s side window telling Young she has been accused of theft and repeatedly demanding that she get out of the car. A second officer is standing in front of the car.

Young protests, and the first officer repeats his demand. Then both officers yell at her to get out. At that point, Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?” seconds before she turns the steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the officer standing in front of it. The officer fires his gun through the windshield and Young’s sedan drifts into the grocery store’s brick wall.

Officers then break the driver’s side window, which Belford said was to get Young out of the car and render medical aid, though footage of medical assistance was not provided.

Walton denied Friday that Young had stolen anything from the grocery store. He said his firm found a witness who saw Young put down bottles of alcohol as she left the store.

“The bottles were left in the store,” he said. “So when she’s in her car denying that, that’s accurate. She did not commit any theft, and so these officers were not even within their right to place her under arrest, let alone take her life.”

Brian Steel, executive vice president of the union representing Blendon Township police, called Walton a “modern-day ambulance chaser” and criticized his characterization of the shooting as a murder while the investigation is still ongoing.

Courtney Hergesheimer, The Columbus Dispatch via Associated Press

Sandriana McBroom, right, and Makhiya Mcbroom, center, light candles that spell out "RIP Kiya" at a vigil held Friday in Columbus, Ohio, for their friend, Ta'Kiya Young.

Steel said the case will almost certainly be presented to a grand jury for a decision on whether to file charges against the officer, but declined to say whether Young’s death was justified. “The fact is (the officer) had to make a split-second decision while in front of a moving vehicle, a 2,000-pound weapon,” he said.

Responding to criticism of the delay in releasing the video, Belford said it took time for his small staff to process it and properly redact certain footage, such as officers’ faces and badge numbers, in accordance with Ohio law.

He said the officers’ names cannot be released at this point because they are being treated as assault victims.  

Young’s death is one of numerous deaths of Black adults and children at the hands of police across the nation that have drawn protests and demands for more accountability. 

Courtney Hergesheimer, The Columbus Dispatch via Associated Press

Family and friends release balloons at a private vigil Friday in Columbus, Ohio, held for 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young.

Young was expected to give birth to a daughter in November. Family and friends held a private vigil a day after Young was killed, releasing balloons and lighting candles spelling out “RIP Kiya.” An online effort to pay her funeral expenses has raised more than $7,000.

Ta’Kiya’s siblings, cousins, grandmother and father have rallied around her sons, 6-year-old Ja’Kobie and 3-year-old Ja’Kenlie, who don’t yet understand the magnitude of what happened to their mother, Walton said.

“It’s a large family and Ta’Kiya has been snatched away from them,” Walton said. “I think the entire family is still in shock.”