The family of Ta'Kiya Young, the pregnant woman shot and killed by a Blendon Township police officer two years ago, has filed a wrongful death suit against the officer.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, calls officer Connor Grubb's actions reckless. The litigation asks for damages to be determined at trial.
Grubb shot Young, 21, in the parking lot of a Kroger store on Sunbury Road on Aug. 24, 2023. Young and her unborn child died.
Police officers confronted Young after she was accused of shoplifting.
Grubb has been charged with murder, felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter. A Franklin County judge denied Grubb's request for a change of venue in that case last month.
The suit said the indictment against Grubb "further affirms the egregious nature of his conduct and the undeniable violations of Ms. Young's and her unborn child's constitutional rights."
The suit alleges Grubb recklessly escalated the situation by standing in front of Young's car, then firing through the windshield at Young as the car started to roll. Young was unarmed.
"There was no immediate threat to any officer, no weapon found, and no justification for the use of deadly force," the suit said.
The suit also names Kroger as a defendant. It alleges that an unnamed Kroger employee improperly escalated the situation by contacting law enforcement without proper cause.
The suit said the worker violated Kroger's internal security policy, which it said "restricts non-loss prevention staff from confronting suspected shoplifters, and instead directed the attention of armed officers to Ms. Young, foreseeably escalating the incident."
WOSU left a message at the office of Grubb's lawyer seeking comment about the case.
