Fatal police shooting of pregnant Ohio woman raises concerns over firing at moving vehicles

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 284 points –
Fatal police shooting of pregnant Ohio woman raises concerns over firing at moving vehicles
apnews.com

Body camera video of the fatal police shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant mother in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, has raised questions about how an allegation of shoplifting led to a bullet being fired through her windshield.

It was unclear Saturday 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 video of the Aug. 24 shooting, released Friday, shows Young 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 department policy advising officers to get out of the way of an approaching vehicle instead of firing their weapon.

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Every cop that doesn't protest against this behavior is a bastard. Silence is complicence.

Lol, cops only care about themselves and other cops.

Thank god for police unions, otherwise this cop might have had to face some responsibility for their actions

Nah. The government would pay any fines and the cop either gets a vacation until it blows over or gets another job in another county.

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It seriously makes me consider becoming a cop, a job I would loathe, just to talk some sense into my coworkers.

The toxicity is self perpetuating. Anyone with a semblance of decency wouldn't become a cop, so you just have more and more of these racist fascist assholes breeding more hatred and thugary. Any 'good cop' quickly realizes it's a cesspool and leaves, or succumbs to the bastardization.

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I think it raises more questions about valid use of force.

It's absolutely insane that someone was being shot at, for potential shop lifting, worse still that this was in a public place with others around.

This is just horrid.

Don't we have stuff like cameras and license plates and investigations? Like what threat did this person pose that you felt defense was required?

spoiler : there was none she was just black

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Trying to block a car with your body just seems so foolish. Who’s that going to work on except honest people who wouldn’t try running from the cops anyways?

Cops are trained to see a car as a deadly weapon (and in many ways they are), so they will intentionally position themselves in a way that gives them an excuse to use deadly force.

That’s my interpretation too. He put himself in harms way on purpose to give himself an excuse to shoot.

finding an excuse to shoot someone over shoplifting? insane.

The type of person who wants to be a cop is the kind of person looking for excuses to kill people and get away with it. This is perfectly normal pig behavior.

Even if it works... Cars have a reputation of needing some time until they stop completely... So, breaking might not be enough to not run over the blue striped idiot who just jumped in front of a moving car thinking that was a good idea... Fucking moron. Then he killed a young family for his mistake.... Now let's watch the same people who condemn abortion defend this dumbbell's sorry ass. It's not murder if police does the abortion, right?

This might be because my wife is pregnant right now and this hits very close to home because of that but... Gosh I'm angry!

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honest people who wouldn’t try running from the cops

Running doesn't mean you're dishonest or guilty and pushing that is part of why this cop felt justified in shooting her. Scared people run, people with mental disabilities, and people who simply don't want to spend years in jail waiting for a trial on a crime they didn't commit.

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Get that fucker on the stand or in a deposition and ask, "What were you hoping to accomplish by firing at the driver?"

Honestly if he'd get on the stand and say

"We're trained to point our guns at people to intimidate them into compliance. I didn't even mean to shoot, I just panicked, being a scared little piggy staring at the consequences of my actions, a fellow human who rightly considers everyone in uniform a white supremacist gang member and an existential threat and began acting as such" we'd know they're capable of some form of introspection and acceptance of personal responsibility.

Does anyone think that will happen?

Does anyone think he will even apologize?

I appreciate the context this article has over policy and best practice. This quote still confuses me though.

"And oftentimes bad tactics translates to needing to use more force than was necessary,” Gross said. “The officer shouldn’t put himself in front of the car. He can’t stop the car with his body.”

Is he alluding to there being possible justification as a result of a bad tactical maneuver? Also confused about the moving vehicle definition. Does that apply to situations when the vehicle that is approached is currently parked?

Lol the title... Clearly questions haven't been raised about shooting people so much as the vehicles