Former Ohio police officer charged with murder for fatal shooting of Andre Hill who was holding a phone
(The AEGIS Alliance) – On Wednesday, an Ohio grand jury indicted a former Columbus police officer in the deadly shooting of a Black man who was at the garage of a house where he was a visitor, the state attorney general stated.
Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department, was indicted for murder and other charges. Coy was arrested at his attorney’s workplace, Attorney General Dave Yost stated.
Coy fatally shot 47-year-old Andre Maurice Hill on December 22 after responding to a call that an individual in an SUV was turning the engine on and off.
Coy mentioned he thought he noticed a gun in Hill’s hand, Yost mentioned, however, no weapon was discovered.
The deadly shooting sparked outrage, and Coy had been fired from the Columbus police department.
Coy’s lawyer, Mark Collins, said Coy was not surprised at being indicted and stated that Coy informed investigators he thought a silver key ring in Hill’s hand was a silver revolver.
“The Supreme Court has said the officers are allowed to make mistakes if the mistake is reasonable through the lens of a reasonable police officer,” Collins stated. “Adam Coy was mistaken. He thought the keys were a revolver and he reacted based on his training.”
The officer did not turn on his body camera before shooting Hill and failed to provide medical help, the police chief stated in recommending that Coy be fired.
Hill was a guest of the homeowner and had not committed a criminal offense when two officers approached the garage he was standing in at about 1:30 a.m. Both officers who interacted with Hill did not activate their body-worn cameras until immediately after the firing of gunshots, a violation of department protocol.
A “look back” function on the department’s digital camera was capable of capturing the 60-seconds prior to the digicam being turned on, however, it didn’t record audio.
The video reveals Coy using his flashlight as he walked up the driveway. Hill then walks towards the officers while holding his cellphone when the officer fired his weapon. Hill’s other hand couldn’t be seen clearly.
Body camera footage then confirmed officers failed to render aid or medical help for Hill as he lay on the ground for a number of minutes following the shooting, another policy violation.
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
