Police who shot TaKiya Young must be publicly named, family says

The fatal shooting of a pregnant woman by Ohio police last month is drawing new scrutiny to a victim’s rights law that advocates of open government say is being misused by police to hide the identity of officers involved in use-of-force cases.

The family of 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young have questioned why the Blendon Township police officer who fatally shot Young in a grocery store parking lot Aug. 24 has not been publicly named by the department nor fired or criminally charged, despite what they say are clear violations of department policy caught on body-camera footage.

“If we had video evidence of a citizen committing an act that appeared to be a murder, there would not be a long investigation [beforehand]; that suspect would be identified and that suspect would be charged,” said Sean Walton Jr., an attorney for Young’s family.

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The two officers involved in the incident are considered victims and thus cannot be identified publicly, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said in a statement last week, citing the crime victim’s rights amendment known as Marsy’s Law. Belford said he would “defer any policy or employee discipline review” until the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) completed its probe.

The officer who did not fire his weapon is back on active duty after a brief leave because of the staffing needs of the roughly 15-person department, Belford said. The officer who shot Young remains on administrative leave.

Walton, along with Young’s family, have objected to the delay in taking action against the officer who shot Young, whom they identified through eyewitness and badge number information as Connor Grubb. The Washington Post has not independently verified the identification.

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At a news conference Wednesday, Walton criticized the way police have used Marsy’s Law, saying it’s not being used for victim privacy, as originally intended, but to shield police who use deadly force from public scrutiny.

“It’s contrary to the public interest and it’s contrary to public safety,” he said.

Police embrace law meant for crime victims

The first Marsy’s Law — named for 21-year-old Marsalee Nicholas, who was killed by her boyfriend in 1983 — passed in California in 2008 with the aim of expanding victims’ rights under the state constitution. Those rights included creating notification requirements about a defendant’s parole hearings or release, and allowing crime victims to redact their name, addresses or other identifying information from case-related public records.

More than a dozen states have since adopted Marsy’s Law, including Ohio, where it passed in a 2017 voter referendum and took effect earlier this year. But as the law has expanded, police departments around the country — including in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin — have sought to use it as cover for officers involved in use-of-force incidents, including several cases this summer.

Between July 6 and Aug. 9, officers with the Columbus Police Department were involved in four separate fatal shootings, Axios reported. In each case, Marsy’s Law was cited as the reason the officers could not be identified to the public.

The ability of officers to invoke Marsy’s Law in police use-of-force incidents is “problematic,” said Jack Greiner, a media and First Amendment attorney in Cincinnati. The law makes it difficult for the public to get the full context of an incident, including whether an officer has a record of disciplinary infractions or a history of involvement in other fatal shootings.

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“It really is of public interest which cop is involved,” Greiner said. There are also constitutional implications of a law that obscures officers’ identities from public view, Greiner said, noting that courts have generally agreed that the public has the right to monitor police activity.

Fred Gittes, a Columbus attorney who specializes in police misconduct, privacy and public records cases, said the original intent of Marsy’s Law is being “twisted” by police officials who, by definition as public employees, should not be anonymous.

“Police officers are public servants, licensed to kill, and we need to know who they are,” said Gittes, who has also represented police officers. Law enforcement officers deserve appropriate protections, but their use of Marsy’s Law, he said, goes “way too far.”

The Blendon Township police chief said in a statement that the officer who shot Young was the victim of attempted vehicular assault because Young struck him as she moved her car. The other officer was a victim of misdemeanor assault because his hand was inside her window as she pulled away.

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Edited body-camera footage of the incident released last week shows an officer approach Young in her car while it’s running and knock on her window and windshield as he orders her to exit the car. A store employee had accused Young of shoplifting. Young partially rolls down her window to ask why, as the second officer, identified by Young’s family and their attorney as Grubb, approaches. He draws his pistol, aims at Young’s windshield and stands in front of the car. As Young turns the wheels to move the car, she strikes the officer, who fires a single shot at her through the windshield.

Young, who was roughly seven months pregnant at the time, died of her injuries at the hospital. The baby she was carrying did not survive.

Family says officer clearly violated use-of-force policy

Nadine Young, Ta’Kiya’s grandmother, says police have been “dishonest” and have not treated the family with compassion or respect. Now, she wants action.

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“An apology would not be genuine at this point; it has been weeks since Kiya’s murder. I want [Grubb] held accountable,” she told The Washington Post in a message Thursday as she prepared for her granddaughter’s funeral.

At the news conference Wednesday, she sat next to Walton, her attorney, as he went through the body-camera video and noted where the officer’s actions violated Blendon Township Police Department policy. Regarding the use of force and moving vehicles, the policy states:

When feasible, officers should take reasonable steps to move out of the path of an approaching vehicle instead of discharging their firearm at the vehicle or any of its occupants. An officer should only discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others. Officers should not shoot at any part of a vehicle in an attempt to disable the vehicle.

While the claim that Young had shoplifted from the store has not been substantiated, Walton said drawing a firearm was an excessive response by police that shows further failure to de-escalate.

“There is no reasonable officer in this country that should pull their weapon out for petty theft,” he said.

Walton said that while civil litigation such as a wrongful-death suit remains an option for Young’s family, “our hope is that the state will help take action first.”

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The timeline of the state’s action is unclear: The BCI’s review of the shooting is ongoing; when it concludes, the case will be referred to Franklin County prosecutors, who will determine whether to bring charges, convene a grand jury, or do nothing.

‘Kiya’s life mattered’

Until two weeks ago, Young had been looking forward to helping her granddaughter welcome a new baby in the fall.

Ta’Kiya had picked out several names ahead of her mid-November due date but had yet to settle on one, Nadine Young said. Ta’Kiya, who had two sons, had bought items for what would have been the first baby girl in a family full of boys — and Nadine’s first great-granddaughter.

“Few days ago I found a box of onesies and little things she had stored in my garage. It broke my heart,” Young told The Post in an email.

The unworn onesies are just a small piece of the brighter future Young saw her granddaughter striving for. The past several years had been difficult for Ta’Kiya, including a stretch in 2021 that included a bout of homelessness and an arrest in April for failing to comply with an officer’s orders during a traffic stop, according to court records.

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The next year, Ta’Kiya’s mother died, “which just devastated her,” Young said.

More recently, Ta’Kiya wanted to go back to school to become a social worker, Young said. And she had secured stable housing and was planning to move with her sons, 6-year-old Ja’Kobie and 3-year-old Ja’Kenlie.

“All she wanted was a place of her own and she had been approved for her own place in Sandusky days before her murder,” Young said. “That’s been heavy on my mind and heart … that she achieved that goal.”

Young said she’ll miss seeing her granddaughter’s name — “Kiya Boo” — flash on her phone. She misses her spirit and humor — “she was a high-energy and a ball of light,” Young said. She will tell Ta’Kiya’s two young sons about the plans their mother had for them.

Young would also tell something to the police who fatally shot her granddaughter: “That Kiya’s life mattered, regardless of what that officer thought of her.”

correction

An earlier version of this story misidentified the Columbus attorney who specializes in police misconduct, privacy and public records cases. His first name is Fred, not Frank, Gittes.

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