COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Jury selection is underway in the murder trial of a Blendon Township police officer who fatally shot a pregnant woman in a grocery store parking lot.
Connor Grubb, 31, is charged with four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter in relation to the deaths of Ta’Kiya Young, 21, and her unborn daughter. If convicted of murder, Grubb could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Licking County residents to vote on merger between two communitiesPotential jurors filled out questionnaires late last week. On Monday, attorneys are scheduled to begin in-person questioning for members of the pool to determine their suitability and impartiality for the trial. Prosecution and defense attorneys have estimated the trial will take about 2-3 weeks.
Use of force trials for police officers follow a different standard than the typical murder trial. Jurors will not have to determine if Grubb killed Young, but rather if Grubb’s use of force was “objectively reasonable” based on what he knew at the time, without the use of hindsight.
The shooting
On Aug. 24, 2023, Young went to the Kroger at 5991 South Sunbury Road in Blendon Township, near Westerville. Surveillance footage captured Young in the liquor section of the store, placing multiple bottles into two large purses.
Two other women walked in separately, and about a minute and a half later, they approached Young while she waited in line with more bottles in a shopping basket. After waiting in line for about a minute, Young walked out of the liquor store carrying the shopping basket and her personal bags alongside the two other women, setting off an alarm.
Young and the two women then exited the Kroger; Young did not have the shopping basket with her but did have her purses containing liquor. A Kroger manager came outside and pointed out Young to Grubb and another Blendon Township officer, who happened to be in the parking lot helping someone get into a locked car. Young went to one car, which did not have a license plate, and the two other women went to another car.
Police hope witnesses will come forward in 5-year-old Columbus homicidePolice-worn body camera footage shows the accompanying officer went to Young's driver's side window and ordered her out of the car multiple times. She asked why, and the officer said someone accused her of stealing from the store. Young responded, “I didn’t steal s—.” As the officer and Young argued, Grubb walked to the front of the car.
Young began turning her wheel. Grubb, with his gun drawn and pointed at Young, placed his hand on the car’s hood. Young, still turning the wheel to the right, asked if he was going to shoot her.
As Young slowly started to drive forward, Grubb was briefly lifted off the ground. At the same time, he fired one shot, which struck Young in the chest. Her car rolled about 50 feet before hitting the Kroger building.
The officers then broke Young’s driver’s side window, since her door was locked, before removing her from the car and placing her in handcuffs. Grubb called for medics about 20 seconds after Young was removed from the car.
Smucker sues Trader Joe’s over alleged ‘dupe’ Uncrustables productGrubb ran to his car to retrieve a chest seal. A passerby wearing an OhioHealth shirt identified himself as an emergency room physician and helped provide aid for several minutes. After the chest seal was applied, the doctor said he could not locate a pulse, and the other officer began CPR. A rotation of responding officers kept up chest compressions until medics arrived about 12 minutes after the shot was fired.
As Grubb spoke to other responding officers throughout the incident, he said multiple times that Young tried to run him over. Young was taken to a hospital, where she and her unborn child died.
The aftermath
Grubb was placed on paid administrative leave immediately after the shooting and was moved to unpaid leave in June. The Blendon Township Board of Trustees voted to change Grubb’s employment status, citing financial issues for the township due to the failure of a levy in May’s election.
A few days after the shooting, nearly 100 protesters gathered at the Kroger, displaying signage saying “jail all killer cops,” “black lives matter” and “justice for Ta’Kiya.” Young’s family has also regularly held vigils in the grocery store's parking lot since her death.
Police: Couple steals $63,000 in products from Ohio Bath & Body WorksIn August, Young’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Grubb and Kroger. The lawsuit alleges Grubb and the Kroger employee "unnecessarily escalated" the altercation, ultimately leading to her death.
About one month later, Young’s family also filed a federal lawsuit against the Blendon Township Police Department. That filing claims that the department has displayed a consistent and systemic failure to properly train and supervise its officers on the proper use of force, as well as a failure to properly discipline officers engaged in excessive force and other misconduct.
Who will be in the courtroom?
Grubb, who started at the Blendon Township Police Department in early 2019, will be represented by attorneys Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens. The pair has represented multiple law enforcement officials under prosecutorial scrutiny for their use of force, including Adam Coy, who fatally shot Andre Hill, and former Columbus vice officer Andrew Mitchell, who killed Donna Castleberry in 2018.
Montgomery County prosecutors Erin Claypoole, Daniel Brandt and Richard Glennon are tasked with convincing the jury Grubb’s use of force was unreasonable.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young, who is not related to Ta’Kiya Young, will preside over the case. He has been a judge of the court since 2015.
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