Pregnant mother shot dead by US police officer as heartbroken family demand cop is charged
2 September 2023, 06:55 | Updated: 2 September 2023, 12:54
Ohio authorities have released bodycam footage showing one of their police officers shooting a mother and her unborn child to death.
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Ta'Kiya Young's family have seen the footage, as they called for the officer in question to be charged.
The clip shows Ms Young, 21, slowly accelerating towards an officer in her path as he yells for her to stop before firing the single bullet that killed her.
Ms Young, from Columbus, was declared dead shortly after the August 24 shooting outside a food shop in the suburb of Blendon Township.
Ms Young, whose unborn daughter did not survive, was expected to give birth in November.
The footage, which comes more than a week after her death, showed one officer at the driver's side window, repeatedly demanding that Ms Young "get out of the f*****g car".
Sean Walton, a lawyer for the Ms Young family, said on Thursday that the family grew frustrated with delays in the police force timeline of releasing body camera footage publicly.
He said the community will be outraged.
"She was an unarmed pregnant mother of two," he said.
"It goes beyond the unjustifiable."
Blendon Township Police chief John Belford said the delay resulted from a small staff trying to process the video and properly redact certain footage in accordance with Ohio law.
In a video statement a day after the shooting, Mr Belford said two officers were helping someone get into a locked car when a supermarket employee told them several people were leaving with stolen items.
Ms Young was among them, according to the employee, who pointed her out sitting in the car park.
She allegedly took bottles of alcohol without paying.
One officer went to the driver's side of Ms Young's car and told her to stop and get out multiple times, while the other officer moved to the front of the vehicle.
Ms Young then put the car in gear and accelerated, Mr Belford said.
"The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield," the chief said.
"The body camera footage I've reviewed also confirms the officer was directly in the path of the car."
Young's car continued about 50 feet before stopping on the pavement outside the shop.
Officers broke the car window, pulled her out and began medical assistance with the help of an emergency room doctor who happened to be there, Mr Belford said.
The two officers' names, ages and races were not immediately released.
They are on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard in cases of police use of deadly force.
Her grandmother, Nadine Young, described her granddaughter as a family-oriented prankster who was a loving older sister and mother.
"She was so excited to have this little girl," Nadine Young said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"She has her two little boys but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed.
"I'm a mess because it's just tragic. But it should have never, ever, ever happened."
