A new episode of violence against African-American citizens brings the US police back into the eye of the storm.
The storm erupted after the release of a shocking video showing the August 24 killing of a Columbus, Ohio girl outside a grocery store in Blendon Township. The girl, just 21 years old, was also pregnant.
The state authorities have made public the video taken by the agents' bodycam, which shows the last moments of Ta'Kiya Young's life: in the video we first see a policeman approaching the car where the young woman was asking her to get out, but she she speeds towards an officer, who yells at her to stop and then shoots. The woman was killed by a single bullet.
"She was pregnant and mother of two other children, unarmed, this is beyond the unjustifiable," said family attorney Sean Walton. "The video only confirmed their fears that Ta'Kiya had been unjustifiably murdered," he continued. "It was heartbreaking for them to see her life taken away in such ridiculous circumstances."
It seems that the 21-year-old had stolen bottles of alcohol from the shop, a circumstance denied by the lawyer, and when the officers asked her to get out of the car she put it in gear and accelerated. After the shot was fired, the officers broke the window, pulled her out and started assistance with a doctor who was on the scene, but neither the mother nor the daughter survived.
The family speaks of "serious abuse of power and authority", recalls that the 21-year-old "had two boys and was so excited to have this girl".
A police union spokesman says calls to charge the officer before the investigation is completed are premature, while Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford has called the shooting a tragedy.
(Unioneonline/L)
