Police release video of body camera shooting by Ta’Kiya Young near Columbus, Ohio
The Township of Blendon released body camera footage Friday morning of the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young.
The footage comes from the two body cameras of officers involved in the shooting, which happened around 6:20 p.m. on Aug. 24 in the parking lot of the Kroger at 5991 S. Sunbury Road.
Young, who was pregnant at the time of her death, was shot and died at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s shortly after from her injuries. The child she was carrying, who her family said was a girl due in November, did not survive.
The Township of Blendon previously said Young and several other people stole items from the store, including liquor, after which a store employee reported to officers in the parking lot during a no-call call. report.
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In the video, a store employee can be heard telling a police officer that Young, who ended up in the corner of a car parked where the officer was trying to help someone locked out of his vehicle, had stolen from the car. ‘display. The officer walks over to Young’s driver’s side window, which is up, and tells him to stop and get out of the car, while waving him out of the vehicle.
Young partially rolls down the window and says, “For what?” as she carries a bag over her left shoulder, which blocks her stomach from the view of the officer. The second officer approaches the front of Young’s vehicle as the first officer continues to tell him to get out of the car.
The video shows Young advancing, striking the second officer, whose feet lift off the ground as he fires a single shot through the windshield. Young’s vehicle continues to move forward until it hits the building.
Officers are seen in the video immediately smashing Young’s driver’s side window to get her out of the vehicle.
Blendon Township Chief John Belford said in a statement Friday that less than 10 seconds after getting Young out of his vehicle, officers called paramedics. Within 70 seconds, a chest seal was applied to Young’s wound, and within 90 seconds, an ER doctor who was in the parking lot at the time began assisting police in treating Young.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Office declined to reveal where Young was shot, though in a statement Friday, Chief John Belford said officers applied a chest seal to Young’s wound, indicating she had received a bullet in the chest.
Blendon Township has not named either officer, citing the Marsy Law, which aims to protect victims of crime, but has been cited by police as the reason they cannot release names agents involved in such situations.
In a statement Friday, the department said the first officer, who was not involved in the shooting itself, had his arm and hand inside the driver’s window when Young accelerated, making him a victim of minor assault. The second policeman, who fired his weapon, was hit by the vehicle and the victim of an attempted assault at the wheel, the statement said.
The department declined to tell The Dispatch how many years either officer worked there, saying it would help identify them effectively, due to the size of the department. Among the 15 agents in the department, the one with the least experience has worked there for three years.
On Friday, Belford said the officer who was not involved in the shooting returned from administrative leave and returned to patrol duty.
Police say Young was already in the vehicle when officers approached and they were unaware she was pregnant.
Young’s family, through his attorney, said body camera footage will not be released until Friday. The family will have the opportunity to view the video before it is made public. Young’s family has also asked that the officers involved in the shooting be named, saying Marsy’s reliance on Marsy’s law to withhold names is an abuse of the law.
After viewing the video Friday morning at the Blendon Township government offices, Young’s family had no comment.
Chanda Brown, one of the attorneys representing the family, said the video speaks for itself.
She said she saw no justification for the shooting.
“I saw a young woman get killed,” Brown said.
When asked if the family would like to see charges brought against the officer, Brown said she wanted to see all the justice she could fight for.
“They are obviously upset and devastated,” Brown said.
Belford said in a statement on Friday that deleting the video was “extremely complex.”
“Due to the fact that there were two constantly moving body cameras and there were numerous reflective surfaces showing the faces of the two officers, the writing was extremely complex,” he said. “That, combined with the legal review, took up a lot of our little department’s time.”
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
USA Today
