Ohio Cop Who Shot Ta’Kiya Young Found Not Guilty Of Murder
On Friday, a jury found Ohio Cop Connor Grubb not guilty of murdering Ta’Kiya Young and her unborn child.
According to AP, the Blendon Township police officer was charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and felonious assault. Grubb potentially faced life in prison had he been found guilty of the charges. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young dropped four of the 10 counts that related to Ta’Kiya Young’s unborn child, as prosecutors didn’t provide proof that Grubb knew Young was pregnant when he shot her.
On Aug. 24, 2023, Grubb and Sgt. Erick Moynihan responded to a call by a Kroger employee who accused Ta’Kiya Young of shoplifting several bottles of alcohol. Young was in her car when Grubb and the other officer arrived. Grubb and Moynihan approached Young and demanded she get out of the car.
Young lowered her window and argued with the officers as they yelled and cursed at her to get out of the car. At one point in the bodycam footage, she can be heard saying, “Are you going to shoot me?” Grubb was standing in front of the car with his gun drawn when Young turned her turn signal on and slowly rolled her car to the right. Grubb responded by shooting Young in the chest, killing her and her unborn child.
The jury was shown the bodycam footage of the shooting and heard testimony from police use of force experts, an accident reconstructionist, and Moynihan. Grubb himself never testified, with the jury being given his side of events through a written testimony.
“It’s also heartbreaking because what it does is it normalizes the behavior like that Connor Grubb exhibited that day, and that is not normal,” Sean Walton, an attorney for the Young family, told reporters after the verdict was announced. “If you look at these recent police killings in Columbus, you have officers who have an irrational fear with no weapons involved or folks doing very minimal behavior that they escalate into a murder.”
“It’s not right,” Nadine Young, Ta’Kiya’s grandmother, said before she was escorted out of the courtroom. “He’s walking away free. It’s not right.” Nadine is now the primary caregiver for Ta’Kiya’s 8-year-old and 5-year-old sons.
Defense attorney Mark Collins said that while Grubb and his family are relieved by the verdict, it’s wrong to presume he was unaffected by the shooting. “For the rest of his life, he has to deal with this,” Collins told reporters. “Trust me, you didn’t get to hear from him because the government put his statement out, but he took a life on duty and realized another’s life after the fact, and to walk around with that is a difficult situation.”
It’s a difficult situation of his own making. Looking at the bodycam footage, at no point was Grubb in any real danger. He could’ve moved out of the way, shot the tires, or even just fired a warning shot if he really felt like he needed to use his gun. Ta’Kiya Young didn’t have to die. The real “difficult situation” is the fact that two boys have to grow up without a mom because a cop felt the need to draw his gun while responding to a shoplifting call.
Ta’Kiya Young’s family sent a statement to ABC News announcing that they intend to file a civil suit against Connor Grubb. “Our civil case will prove what the jury could not find beyond a reasonable doubt,” the family said in their statement. “We will show that Grubb created the danger by positioning himself in front of her vehicle with his weapon drawn.” The family filed a federal lawsuit against Connor Grubb earlier this year.
SEE ALSO:
Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Cop Who Shot Ta’Kiya Young
Cop Charged With Murdering Ta’Kiya Young
