LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A mother is still mourning the loss of a daughter and doesn't understand why the person authorities filed charges against wasn't charged with homicide.
Kiara Totty
Kimberly Battle, along with family and members of the Lima Chapter of the NAACP, gathered today to ask why. Why was the woman authorities arrested in connection to the shooting death of 23-year-old Ja'Kia Battle only charged with reckless homicide? Kiara Totty was indicted by a grand jury last week, arrested on Saturday, and is out on bail. Ja'Kia Battle was shot in the chest back on October 18, 2021 at a home on Edgewood Drive. She later died on October 19, 2021. Her mother says it was called in as a self-inflicted wound, but an autopsy done in Lucas County later confirmed it was a homicide.
"A murder is a murder. I don't care who it is. I don't care what color they is. We all bleed red. Act like it when somebody's kid is murdered. Make sure you get the evidence you would have wanted if it was one of your children. Now that's what I think they should have done. That was my kid. You were the law. You've got a job like I had something to do and that was bury her. I did my part, where are you at?" questioned Kimberly Battle, mother of Ja'Kia Battle.
The president of the local NAACP says they want to meet with the Allen County Prosecutor in what he calls an "understanding" meeting. They just want answers as to why the charge is reckless homicide. He says gun violence carries a price tag none of us want to suffer.
"So, we must deal with the issue of gun violence in our community. Because the impact is greater than what we can bear. Now in addition to that Kim has come to us simply because she felt like she was not getting justice from the local justice department," commented Reverend Ron Fails, president of the Lima Chapter of NAACP.
Your Hometown Stations contacted Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick and he says he has not been contacted by the NAACP or the Battle family since the indictment and arrest of Totty. He says he is always available to talk.
