COLUMBUS, Ohio – Police’s attorney general on Wednesday charged an Ohio police officer with the murder on Wednesday for the murder of 47-year-old Andre Hill, a black man.
Former Columbus Police Officer Adam Coy has been charged with murder by a grand jury in Franklin County after an investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The charges against Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, also include that he did not use his body camera and that he did not tell the other officer he believed Hill was a danger does not hold.
Coy will plead not guilty to the charges, his attorney, Mark Collins, said Wednesday night.
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Coy and another officer responded to the neighbor’s emergency call on Dec. 22 after 1 p.m., about a car in front of his home in the northwestern part of the city that was running, then turned off and on again, according to a copy of the call issued in December.
On the body footage of the police, Hill was seen emerging from a garage holding a cellphone in his left hand, seconds before he was fatally shot by Coy. There is no sound because Coy did not activate the body camera; an automatic “look back” function captured the recording without sound.
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In the moments after Hill was fatally shot, extra camera footage showed two other Columbus officers rolling Hill and handcuffing him before leaving him alone again. None of them offered first aid, according to the released material, although Hill barely moved, groaned and bled as he lay on the garage floor.
“In this case, the citizens of Franklin County, represented by the individual jurors, probably found reason to believe that Mr. Coy committed a crime when he killed Andre Hill by gunfire,” the attorney general said. Dave Yost, told a news conference Wednesday night. .
He added: “Truth is the best friend of justice, and the grand jury here has found the truth.”
Coy has had a long history of complaints from citizens. He was fired on Dec. 28 because he did not activate his body camera before the confrontation and that he did not provide medical assistance to Hill.
Coy will fight the charges based on case law investigating the use of violent incidents through the eyes of a ‘reasonable police officer,’ ‘Collins said, adding that his client fully cooperated with the investigators and “honestly believed that he” saw a silver revolver coming. in the right hand of the individual. ‘
The union, which represents Columbus police officers, issued a brief statement saying it would wait to see how the case unfolded.
Coy “will have the ability to present facts on his behalf during a trial, just like any other citizen,” said Keith Ferrell, president of the local FOP. “At that time, we will see all the facts with the public for the first time as the process unfolds.”
Coy’s indictment comes days after Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was forced to do so after Mayor Andrew Ginther said he was losing confidence in his ability to make the necessary changes in the department.
Ginther, a Democrat who has made changes to the police department one of his top priorities, welcomed the news of Coy’s charge.
“The indictment does not reduce the pain of his tragic death for Mr Hill’s loved ones, but it is a step towards justice,” he said.
Quinlan himself was very critical of the actions of Coy and other officers and said Hill would be alive today if officers helped him at the scene.
Attorney Michael Wright said Hill’s family, while still dying over Hill’s death, are happy with the charge they consider a first step.
Andre Hill, who was fatally shot by Columbus police on Dec. 22, is commemorated on a shirt his daughter, Karissa Hill, was wearing on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo / Andrew Welsh-Huggins)
“It’s important to hold these officers accountable for their bad behavior and their bad deeds,” Wright said. “I think it will go a long way for one, the public to trust law enforcement, for two, to possibly change the behavior of officers and their interaction with individuals who should not be killed or who should not tolerate excessive power. . “
This is the second Columbus police officer recently charged with murder. Former United States Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell has been charged in 2019 with felony criminal mischief for firing on a sculpture with a shotgun, according to Chaplain.
Mitchell is also federally charged with forcing women to have sex with him, threatening to be arrested, and pressuring others to help cover up their crimes and lying to federal investigators when he said he never met prostitutes did not have sex. He pleaded not guilty.
Hill’s case was prosecuted by Republican Yost, the state’s leading law enforcement officer, whose criminal justice unit is leading the investigation.
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Hill’s death came weeks after Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy President Casey Goodson Jr. Shot dead in the doorway of his grandmother’s home as family members said he returned from a dentist’s office with sandwiches for his family.
A U.S. marshal said Deputy Jason Meade, a member of a fugitive task force, confronted Goodson outside his home after Goodson, who was not the subject of the fugitive search, drove off and swung a gun at Meade. Meade is White and Goodson was Black.