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A use-of-force review board has cleared an Ohio police officer who fatally shot 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother, during an encounter outside a Kroger in a Columbus suburb, according to a statement from the police department’s chief released this week.
The five-member review board, empaneled by Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford, found that Officer Connor Grubb did not violate department policy when he fatally shot Young on Aug. 24, 2023, during the encounter in a Kroger parking lot, the police chief said.
Belford said in a written statement that the deaths were “a profound tragedy for her family, our department, and the community,” and he said the review board conducted a policy review after it received the complete investigation and evidence from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The department said the board was formed under its policy and convened in December, after a Franklin County jury acquitted Grubb on all counts, including murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in Young’s death.
The department’s spokesman, Ryan Stubenrauch, said that four of the board members work at law enforcement agencies in Franklin County and that the fifth is a township trustee from Brown Township.
Sean Walton, an attorney representing Young’s family, said in response to the review board’s results that the outcome was “unsurprising,” and he criticized the department’s policies. Walton said the department’s policies were “a clear and present danger to everyone who encounters their officers,” adding that Grubb “chose escalation over de-escalation” and “chose to create danger and respond to the danger he created.”
According to the police department, body-camera recordings showed Grubb and Sgt. Erick Moynihan approaching Young’s car outside the Kroger after a report that she was suspected of stealing alcohol from the store. The video described by police shows Young partially lowering her window and protesting as the officers cursed at her and ordered her to get out.
The department said the bodycam recorded Young asking, “Are you going to shoot me?” It also said Young put on a turn signal and her car rolled slowly forward toward Grubb, who then fired a single bullet through her windshield into her chest, according to the body-camera recording.
In the statement, Grubb said he positioned himself in front of Young’s vehicle to provide proper backup and said he drew his gun after hearing Young fail to comply with Moynihan’s commands. Grubb said that when her car moved toward him, he felt the vehicle hit his legs and shins and begin to lift his body off the ground as he shot.
Moments later, the department said, officers broke the driver’s side window, and the department said they tried to save Young. Police said Young and her unborn daughter were later pronounced dead at a hospital, and Grubb, a full-time officer with the township since 2019, was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.