Body camera video of the fatal police shooting of Ta'Kiva Young, a Columbus, Ohio, suburban mother, has raised questions about how an allegation of shoplifting led to a bullet being fired through her windshield.
It was unclear whether the Blendon Township Police Department has adopted a use-of-force continuum policy, which would outline measures that must be exhausted before lethal force can be used, the Associated Press reports. Video of the Aug. 24 shooting shows Young, 21, in her car in a parking space as a police officer orders her to exit the vehicle. A second officer is seen drawing his firearm and stepping in front of the car, despite a policy advising officers to get out of the way of an approaching vehicle instead of firing their weapon.
“Are you going to shoot me?” Young asks, seconds before she turns the steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the second officer. The officer fires through the windshield and Young’s sedan drifts into a grocery store’s brick wall. Lawyers for Young’s family called for the officer who shot her to be fired and criminally charged. The New York City Police Department barred officers from firing at or from moving vehicles after a 1972 shooting that killed a 10-year-old passenger in a stolen car led to protests. Researchers found the policy, along with other use-of-force restrictions, led to a decline in bystanders being shot and suspects dying in police shootings. Industry organizations such as the Police Executive Research Forum and the International Association of Chiefs of Police have recommended restrictions, saying shooting in such circumstances creates an unacceptable risk to bystanders from stray gunfire or the driver losing control of the vehicle. As of June, only 32 police departments in the 100 largest U.S. cities had some form of restriction on firing at moving vehicles, according to Campaign Zero, an advocacy group seeking to end police brutality.
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