Police officer charged with murder over shooting of pregnant Black woman at supermarket
Blendon Police Officer Connor Grubb has been charged with four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, and two counts of involuntary manslaughter
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An Ohio police officer who shot and killed a pregnant woman who was driving a car toward him has been indicted and charged with murder by a Franklin County grand jury.
Connor Grubb, 29, has been charged in the August 24, 2023, murder of Ta'Kiya Young, 21, who was six-months pregnant when she and her unborn child were killed. The officer faces four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, and two counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from last year’s shooting.
The attorney representing Young's family, Sean Walton, said in a statement that the indictment was a step toward police accountability, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
"Ta'Kiya’s life and that of her daughter were extinguished in an act of brutality, becoming yet another symbol of the urgent need for reform in police conduct and accountability," he told reporters.
The incident began when a Kroger employee allegedly spotted Young and several other people stealing bottles of liquor from the grocery store. Blendon Township police officers were already in the parking lot helping a woman who had locked her keys in her car when the employee spotted them and asked them for help stopping Young.
Bodycam footage released by the police department shows two officers standing near Young's car; one officer next to her driver side window, and Grubb, who stood in front of her car.
The officer next to Young's window gives her multiple orders to roll down her window and turn off her car.
Young rolls down her window partially, but does not turn off her car, and turns the wheel in an attempt to drive off. As the vehicle begins moving forward, Grubb can be seen with his pistol in hand pointed at Young's windshield. The car moves forward into Grubb, at which point he fires a shot into the car, striking Young in the chest.
The car continues moving forward for several feet while the officers try to break Young's window. The vehicle eventually comes to a rest on the sidewalk beneath the Kroger's brick entrance overhang, at which point the officers succeed in breaking the window. Young can be seen slumped over inside the car.
The police department has maintained that the officers were not aware that Young was pregnant as she was sitting down at the time of the confrontation, with her stomach not visible to officers.
Surveillance video from the Kroger showed that at the time of the shooting, both of Grubb's feet were off the ground as the car hit him.
The police called for medically assistance for Young after the shooting. A doctor who was at the store offered to assist until paramedics arrived, but Young ultimately died from her wounds.
Grubb started his police career when he joined the Blendon Township Police Department in 2019.
He will have his first court appearance on Wednesday, according to Montgomery County prosecutors.
Nadine Young, Young's grandmother, told the Columbus Dispatch that her granddaughter's children miss her and that it has been difficult celebrating family events without her.
"It's been, for me, agony," she told the paper. "It's been like a whirlwind of hurt and pain."
She said she believes Grubb should be convicted of murder, arguing that he intended to kill her if she didn't comply with his orders.
Walton, the family attorney, also said he was prepared to file a civil lawsuit that he hopes the Blendon Township government will settle with the family.
Grubb's attorneys, Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens, said the indictment was not a surprise but said they were confident the evidence would prove their client's innocence.
"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 hit by a moving vehicle," Collins and Stephens said. "This case is not about if Connor Grubb made the decision to use deadly force, but why he made the decision to use deadly force."