A Columbus police officer has been fired the fatal shooting of a black man in a case that has sparked national outrage, the city’s director of public safety announced Monday. The decision to fire Adam Coy, who was identified by authorities as the officer who shot and killed 47-year-old Andre Hill last week, comes after the city’s police chief described the shooting as “Horrible” and would recommend the end of Coy.
“On Monday morning I held a disciplinary hearing for Columbus police officer Adam Coy. I am confirming Chief Quinlan’s recommendation to dismiss Mr. Coy,” Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus said in a statement Jr., who added, “Adam Coy’s actions do not meet the oath of a Columbus police officer, nor the standards we and the community demand of our officers.”
Authorities said the shooting occurred after a neighbor reported that a person turned on and off the engine of an SUV around 1:30 p.m. Images from the body camera of the scene showed Coy getting out of his vehicle and approaching Hill, who was inside a garage. As Hill headed for the officer who had the cell phone, Coy fired the gun. Hill immediately fell to the ground, while Coy called for orders to show him his hands.
The video did not show Coy providing CPR or any other medical care. Hill died from his injuries. A preliminary autopsy report released Monday ruled Hill’s death a homicide and said he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Benjamin Crump
The mayor of the city said the day after the shooting that Hill was an expected guest at the residence and was not an intruder. The mayor also said Coy did not turn on the body camera until after the shooting, but said a 60-second automatic “look back” feature captured the incident without sound.
Two days after the shooting, Columbus police chief Thomas Quinlan announced he was taking steps to fire Coy by recommending his cessation to Pettus. Quinlan said that after investigating Coy’s use of deadly force, his failure to activate the body camera and his failure to provide assistance to Hill, he chose to take the typical step of granting Coy an audience.
“I have seen everything I need to come to the conclusion that Officer Coy should be dismissed immediately,” he wrote in a public statement announcing his recommendation.
In his letter to Pettus, Quinlan said Coy “had no immediate cause to believe that criminal activity was underway and certainly had no predisposition to believe that Mr. Hill posed any threat to the officers,” and add that Coy “has violated his right to maintain his position as a police officer.”
Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who represents Hill’s family, has called for Coy’s arrest. In a statement Monday, he described the dismissal as the “right decision” and stressed the need “to redefine a relationship between police and communities of color in which it is not fatal for a black man with a cell phone to encounter an official police force “.
The Ohio Office of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. Quinlan also noted that additional officers involved in the incident would be investigated for failing to activate his body’s cameras or provide assistance to Hill.
Quinlan announced the shooting, writing in a statement that “this is how accountability looks.” He added that Coy “will now have to answer to state investigators for the death of Andre Hill.”
The shooting occurs as the city opens for another fatal shot of a black man by police a few weeks earlier. On December 4, a sheriff’s deputy died Casey Goodson, 23 at her grandmother’s door. Columbus police, the Justice Department and the FBI are investigating the shooting, which was not captured on camera footage.