“The fact is, (the officer) had to make a split-second decision while in front of a moving vehicle, a 2,000-pound weapon,” he said.īut Edward Obayashi, a national use-of-force expert and attorney who specializes in vehicle-related police shootings, said that while the officer who shot Young may have reasonably feared for his safety, it went against all his law enforcement training to be in front of her car in the first place. He said an investigation will determine whether the shooting was justified. She did not commit any theft, and so these officers were not even within their right to place her under arrest, let alone take her life.”īrian Steel, executive vice president of the union representing Blendon Township police, criticized Walton’s characterization of the shooting as murder before all the facts are in. “So when she’s in her car denying that, that’s accurate. “The bottles were left in the store,” he said. He said his firm found a witness who saw Young put down bottles of alcohol as she left the store. In his interview with the AP on Friday, Walton denied that Young had stolen anything from the grocery store. Officers then break the driver’s side window, which Belford said was to get Young out of the car and render medical aid, though footage of medical assistance was not provided. The officer fires his gun through the windshield and Young’s sedan drifts into the grocery store’s brick wall. At that point, Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?” seconds before she turns the steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the officer standing in front of it. Then both officers yell at her to get out. Young protests, and the first officer repeats his demand. A second officer is standing in front of the car. The video shows an officer at the driver’s side window telling Young she has been accused of theft and repeatedly demanding that she get out of the car. a sense of just devastation, to know that this power system, these police officers, could stop her and so quickly take her life for no justifiable reason.” While viewing the video, the family felt “a lot of anger, a lot of frustration,” Walton told the AP. “It is undeniable that Ta’Kiya’s death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority,” the statement said. Young’s father, grandmother and other relatives watched the video before its public release and released a statement Friday through Walton.
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