Police in the county of Blendon, Ohio, released video Saturday showing one of its officers fatally shooting a young black pregnant woman through the windshield of the vehicle she was in.
The incident took place last week when 21-year-old Ta’kiya Young was accused by a convenience store employee of stealing some bottles of alcohol.
As a result of the officer’s shooting, Young and the fetus died, Efe reported.
Authorities have not released the identities of the officers involved or the victim, who was identified as a black woman by community organizations.
The video, captured by the shooter’s body camera, begins with Young sitting in a car in the parking lot of a shopping center in Westerville, a suburb north of Columbus.
Officials in Blendon Township, Ohio are bracing for potential #BLM riots after a 21-year-old pregnant woman was shot dead by police on August 24. The body cam footage has just been released.
Officers responded to an alcohol theft call at Kroger when Ta’Kiya Young gasped… pic.twitter.com/r9jErYMdTs
– Andy Ngo ️ (@MrAndyNgo) September 1, 2023
One officer stands at the driver’s door and repeatedly asks Young to get out of the vehicle, while another officer, wearing a body camera, stands in the front of the car.
Young, who has two children ages six and three, says he didn’t steal anything from the store and refuses to get out of the car. At that moment, the officer standing in front of the car points the gun at the young pregnant woman and orders her to leave as well.
As the vehicle begins to move, the agent fires once at Young. After the shot, the car follows slowly and crashes into the building, with Young appearing to be in the passenger seat.
Blendon Police Chief John Belford said in a statement Saturday that the shooter was on administrative leave and said he had asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to conduct an independent investigation into what happened.
Belford justified the delay in publishing the video by deleting some moments in accordance with state law, as well as allowing attorneys to view it.
Police in the US have been repeatedly accused by human rights groups of using excessive force against the country’s black population.
According to the association Mapping Police Violence, which collects national data on police brutality, police will have killed at least 1,201 people in the United States in 2022.
Of these, 26% were black, despite representing only 13% of the US population, the association said.
Source: DN
