Former Columbus police officer accused of killing Andre Hill has been charged with murder, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced at a news conference Wednesday night. Adam Coy is accused of fatally shooting Hill, a 47-year-old black man, during a morning encounter in a residential garage in late December.
Coy was charged with murder in the commission of a felony felony, felony assault, abandonment of duty for failing to activate the body camera and abandonment of duty for failing to tell his fellow officer that he believed Hill posed a danger, he said. Yost. Grand jurors did not charge Coy with intentional murder.
“Andre Hill should not be dead,” Yost said, adding later that “I think the evidence in this case supports the indictment.”
Benjamin Crump
Authorities said the shooting occurred after a neighbor reported a person starting and stopping the engine of an SUV several times around 1:30 a.m. on a residential street. Images from the body camera showed Coy approaching Hill, who was inside a garage. As Hill headed for Coy with a cell phone in his left hand, Coy fired the service weapon. Hill fell to the ground as Coy yelled at him to show his hands.
The video did not show Coy providing medical care. Hill later died of his wounds and a preliminary autopsy declared his death a homicide.
Coy was arrested peacefully Wednesday night at his attorney’s office and will make his first court appearance Thursday, Yost said. Coy’s lawyers said he will plead not guilty to the charges.
“The role of the grand jury is unique: to determine if there is a probable cause to prosecute,” attorneys Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens said in a statement. “This is a very different standard and, more importantly, much lower than what the state of Ohio will have to demonstrate.”
“This case must be tried on both an objective and subjective level,” the lawyers added. “The whole of the circumstances must be taken into account along with the training and experience of Officer Coy, and must be seen through the lens of a reasonable police officer; not with the advantage 20/20 “retrospective.
Officer Amy Detweiler, that was on the scene when Coy died, he later told investigators he heard Coy shout, “There’s a gun in his hand, there’s a gun in his hand.” moments before firing the gun. Authorities have said no weapons were found at the scene. Detweiler also told investigators he saw no weapons and that he “did not observe any threats from Mr. Hill.”
Officials said Coy did not activate his body camera before the shooting. Instead, the video of the encounter was captured by a 60-second “look back” feature that Coy activated when he turned on the camera after filming. The “look back” function does not capture audio.
Two days after the shooting, the city police chief said he had recommended Coy’s cessation.
“I have seen everything I need to come to the conclusion that Officer Coy must be fired immediately,” Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan wrote in a public statement announcing his recommendation.
In his letter to the city’s director of public safety, Quinlan said Coy “had no immediate cause to believe that criminal activity was underway and certainly had no predisposition to believe Mr. Hill posed any threat. to officers, “and added that Coy” has violated his right to hold office as a police officer. ”
Quinlan noted in his report that Coy “reacted with deep anguish to profane words when he realized Mr. Hill was unarmed” and said Coy could be heard on his body camera “physically ill” after the shooting. . But he nevertheless wrote that “Officer Coy’s use of force was not objectively reasonable, he did not use trained techniques, he did not use his BWC properly, and he did not provide medical assistance.”
Coy was fired days later. In a statement announcing Coy’s resignation, the director of public safety said his actions “do not meet the oath of a Columbus police officer, nor the rules we demand of our officers and the community.”
Hill’s family, represented by attorney Benjamin Crump, had previously called for Coy’s arrest. Crump tweeted on wednesday that the charges are the “first steps to getting Andre and his family JUSTICE.”