Ohio police release body camera footage of officer fatally shooting pregnant woman Ta’Kiya Young

Police in Blendon Township, Ohio, released body camera footage Friday showing an officer fatally shooting a woman who allegedly sped her car toward the officer after being accused of shoplifting from a convenience store.

The family of Ta’Kiya Young, 21, of Columbus, said she was killed in an Aug. 24 shooting while seven months pregnant.

Blendon Township police officers were in the parking lot of a Kroger’s store helping a driver who was unable to get out of her car when a store employee told one of the officers that someone who had allegedly stolen bottles of alcohol was running away, Police Chief John Belford said in a statement after shooting.

Newly released body camera footage reviewed by ABC News shows Young parked outside the store refusing to exit his vehicle despite repeated commands from police. One officer was sitting on the driver’s side of the vehicle and another was sitting directly in front of the vehicle.

The footage shows the officer sitting on the driver’s side telling Young she has been charged with theft, which she denies.

According to the video, the officer again orders her to get out of the car, which Young apparently verbally refuses.

He bangs on the driver’s side window as Young asks the officer in front of the vehicle, “Are you going to shoot me?”

In the footage, the officer outside the car pointed a gun at Young and shouted at her to get out of the vehicle, using an expletive.

The car then accelerates forward, engaging the officer in front of the car, who then fired a single shot into the windshield, according to the video. The car continued to move forward.

As you can see in the video, officers say “shots fired” and chase the vehicle for several feet before it stops.

The video shows that as they chase the car, one of the officers orders Young to stop the car while pointing a gun at her. The video shows officers breaking the driver’s side window.

Officers had to break through the closed driver’s window to give Young medical attention, the police chief later said, adding that they also immediately called an ambulance and the officer who shot her “ran to his car for a trauma kit, which he quickly used.” “

Belford said Young later died at St. John’s Hospital. Ann.

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In a statement released Friday along with body camera footage, the police chief said the Ohio Bureau of Investigation (BCI) is investigating the incident and the officer who fired the fatal shot is being placed on administrative leave.

The second officer was also initially placed on administrative leave, but Belford said after viewing the footage he saw no reason to keep him on it any longer.

“It was a tragedy. “Ms. Young’s family are understandably very distraught and grieving,” Belford said. “While none of us can fully understand the depth of their pain, we can all keep them in our prayers and give them time and space to deal with this heartbreaking turn of events.”

None of the policemen were named.

Through their attorneys at Walton & Brown LLP, Ta’Kiya Young’s family released a statement Friday after the body camera video was made public, saying, “it cannot be denied that Ta’Kiya’s death was not only avoidable, but constituted a gross abuse of power and authority As if the pain of losing Ta’Kiya wasn’t enough, we must grapple with the knowledge that in this unborn act, her unborn daughter was also robbed of her life.

The statement added: “After viewing the video footage of her death, it is clear that this is a criminal act and the family is requesting that the officer be swiftly charged for the murder of both Ta’Kiyah and her unborn daughter.”

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Sean Walton Jr., a lawyer for the Young family, called for accountability and justice, calling for the name of the officer who fired the shot to be released and for the officer to be “fired and charged immediately.”

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Steven Irwin, press secretary for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, told ABC News this week that BCI’s investigation into the incident is “active and ongoing.” He also said he would not release the officers’ names because “they are considered uncharged suspects in our investigation.”

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday ahead of the video’s release, Nadine Young, Ta’Kiya Young’s grandmother, recalled her “fireball spirit” and “cheese smile.”

Nadine Young said, “Two people were murdered that day – (Ta’Kiya Young) and her little daughter.”

“I’m going to miss her a lot,” Nadine Young said, noting that she will especially miss what a wonderful mother Ta’Kiya Young was to her two living sons, ages 3 and 6. “She was a mom and a dad to (her) kids. She gave it her all.”

-ABC News’ Deena Zaru, Jade Lawson, Alex Grainger and Aisha Frazier contributed to this report.

Ohio police release body camera footage of officer fatally shooting pregnant woman Ta’Kiya Young. Originally posted on abcnews.go.com