The BBC article: US police officer charged with fatally shooting pregnant woman
Ta’Kiya Young, 21, was around 25 weeks pregnant at the time of her death last August. Her unborn daughter also died in the police shooting.
On Tuesday, a grand jury in the city of Columbus found sufficient evidence to file charges against Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb for murder, involuntary manslaughter and assault.
Bodycam video of the fatal encounter released last year showed police attempting to stop Ms Young from driving away so they could question her about alleged shoplifting.
In the video she appeared to drive toward the officer who fired the fatal shot as he commanded her to exit the car.
Ms Young was suspected of shoplifting alcohol from a Kroger grocery store, investigators say.
Lawyers for Mr Grubb say he fired in self-defence.
“When viewed through the eyes of a reasonable police officer, the evidence will show that our client’s actions were justified, when there is video evidence that Officer Grubb was being hit by a moving vehicle,” said his lawyers Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens.
The local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) labour union on Tuesday slammed the indictment as “politically motivated”.
“We stand firm in advocating for an impartial justice system that focuses on truth and facts, not politics,” said chapter president Brian Steel.
“Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar for those who serve to protect our communities,” he also said, adding decisions were often made under “extreme pressure and often in life-threatening situations”………….
…… If anyone was asked to guess the colour of the dead individual and that of the police shooter, I doubt any of us would guess incorrectly. But for me, that’s actually not the point. The point is: when you watch the video, there were two policemen and they both felt the need to draw guns against a woman? It could be interesting to see the statistics of how many women have ever killed a police offer in the US’s history. This was no Bonnie & Clyde standoff. The store have her on CCTV, the police have her on their bodycam, including her car reg etc (even if they may feel she could have also stolen the car). She pulled forward from a parked position, so, she was hardly flying at 100km/hr! To begin with, this was never a ‘draw your gun’ situation! It was a shoplifting, not a knife-wielding spree! This is where policing in America is quite farcical! Can these folk not assess that a shoplifting allegation, and by a woman, does not require pulling out your gun?!!! For heaven’s sake, it isn’t a goat at the wheel of the car (and goats don’t deserve that either), it is a human being, and as it turns out, a pregnant one – and even if she wasn’t pregnant, it is a human being who has friends, family….. to just snap that life out so callously is reprehensible and it THE POINT. Would it be so difficult for the policemen not to draw guns, get out of her way, let her drive away????!!! They had all the evidence needed. In the UK, our properly trained police officers (setting aside the fact that they are unlikely, in this situation, to be gun carrying) would let her drive away, and at 5am the next day, there will be a knock on her door at her home, and she will be quietly arrested in her pyjamas. That is how policing should work.
The murder charge is of course a waste of time in the US, as that policeman will win in their court. Why? because they do not wish to accept that the principle of how they police, is the problem.
Given the countless similar situations in the US (all ending up in death to the civilian), the woman was clearly suicidal. She only had to have sneezed and she would have been shot dead, nevermind attempting to drive away.
They need to disband the entire US police force, sit down and redefine what policing is and explain that civilians are taxpayers – regardless – and as such, they employ these cops. The training has to be that each situation must be assessed e.g. woman reported to have stolen nappies and a can of tomatoes, sat in a car. Caught on multiple cameras. DO NOT DRAW YOUR GUN! She attempts to drive over you, WELL, MOVE YOURSELF! Let her drive away! Go get her later in the evening!!
But that is just not how America see it. She is dead, her unborn baby is dead, and majority will say she deserved it and she won’t be the last….