(BLENDON TOWNSHIP, Ohio) — A jury found an Ohio police officer not guilty of murder on Friday in the 2023 shooting death of a 21-year-old pregnant Black woman who was suspected of shoplifting.
Connor Grubb of the Blendon Township Police Department was cleared of murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in Ta’Kiya Young’s death.
Body camera footage showed Grubb shooting Young on Aug. 24, 2023 while she drove her vehicle in Grubb’s direction after she allegedly stole liquor from a Kroger grocery store.
Young was seven months pregnant at the time of the incident in the store parking lot in Blendon Township, Ohio, her grandmother told ABC News in a 2023 interview. Her unborn child also died.
During closing arguments on Wednesday, Erin Claypool of the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office said that Grubb knew his actions would cause Young to suffer serious physical harm.
Claypool said that the Blendon Township Police Department has guidelines that instruct officers to take reasonable steps to move out of the path of an approaching vehicle instead of discharging their firearm at the vehicle.
Mark Collins, Grubb’s defense attorney, began his closing argument by stating that Young’s death was extremely tragic and sad, but it was up to the jury to put emotions aside and only address the facts.
“When you walk out of this courtroom to go to the jury room, the law and justice demands to be set aside that sympathy, no matter how difficult that is,” Collins said.
Grubb’s defense has asserted that Young’s car carried deadly force when she drove towards the officer, making his use of force “objectively reasonable.”
Collins claimed in his closing argument that the prosecution’s case was weak, and reliant on the testimony of two paid expert witnesses.
“Their basic case, ladies and gentlemen, is to take a video showing life saving measures, take a photo of an unborn fetus, wrap that together with two professional second guessers,” Collins said.
The prosecution noted in rebuttal that Erick Moynihan, the officer who was with Grubb during the incident, said during his trial testimony that he was not expecting for Grubb to fire his weapon.
“Sergeant Moynihan told us that he himself did not perceive Ms. Young to be a threat at all,” the prosecution said. “He didn’t even have his weapon drawn. He stated that it surprised him when he heard the sound of a gunshot. He said, ‘I wasn’t expecting that.'”
The prosecutor said during rebuttal that Grubb had “motivation” to convince the jury he was in fear of his life because then he would allegedly not be accountable for the death of Young and her unborn child.
“How many of us are really surprised that in his (Grubb’s) written statement, he writes that he fired his weapon because he believed that he was in imminent danger of death?” the prosecution said. “What would you expect him to say after he shot and killed someone and terminated their pregnancy?”
At the defense’s request, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young dismissed two counts of felonious assault and two counts of felony murder on Young’s unborn child on Tuesday. The judge said there was no evidence that Grubb knew Ta’Kiya Young was pregnant at the time of the shooting.
Grubb said in a statement read by the prosecution during the trial that he pointed his gun at Young after she failed to comply with his partner’s commands to get out of the vehicle. He said he felt the car strike his legs and start to lift his body off the ground.
Body camera video shows Young refusing to leave the car despite orders from officers after she was suspected of stealing alcohol from the Kroger store. Grubb’s partner was on the driver’s side while Grubb stood directly in front of the vehicle.
According to attorneys during the trial, her car was parked in a disabled parking space with no disability placard on her vehicle. License plates for the car were not visible.
Young can be heard protesting with the officers in body camera video during the encounter. The officers can be heard yelling at her to get out of the vehicle. She asked them, “Are you going to shoot me?”
The video shows Young turned the steering wheel to the right and rolled forward in an apparent attempt to drive away, Grubb was already standing in front of the vehicle before the car started moving and fired a single fatal shot into her chest through her windshield after the vehicle moved.
Young’s vehicle came to a stop against a building shortly after, as seen on the body camera video. Police said they attempted to give her life saving aid. Young and her unborn daughter were later pronounced dead at a hospital.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
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