Adam Coy, who had worked for the department for 19 years, has also been charged with felonious assault, dereliction of duty in connection with Hill’s shooting death.
A former Columbus police officer has been charged with felony murder in the death of Andre Hill, Attorney General Dave Yost of Ohio announced Wednesday. Adam Coy, who had worked for the department for 19 years, has also been charged with felonious assault and dereliction of duty in connection with Hill’s shooting death. Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, was shot after a neighbor called police about someone who was repeatedly stopping and starting an SUV around 1:30 a.m. on a residential street.
Coy arrived on the scene and opened fire within seconds, shooting Hill four times, The New York Times reported. Body camera footage of the shooting showed Coy heading toward Hill, who was standing inside a garage. Hill walked toward Coy while holding his cellphone and was shot, the footage showed.
Coy did not provide medical care to Hill, according to body cam footage, CBS News reported. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide.
"Andre Hill should not be dead," Yost said during the announcement.
Coy was arrested at his attorney’s office on Wednesday and is set to appear in court on Thursday. He is set to plead not guilty, according to reports.
"The grand jury's function is singular — to determine if there is probable cause to indict," Coy’s attorneys Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens said in a statement. "This is a much different and more importantly, much lower standard than what the State of Ohio will have to prove come trial."
Officer Amy Detweiler, who was there at the time of Hill’s shooting, told authorities she heard Coy yell, "There's a gun in his other hand, there's a gun in his other hand!" before the shooting. She also told investigators, she "did not observe any threats from Mr. Hill,” CBS News reported. No weapon was found at the scene.
The dereliction of duty charges were filed because Coy allegedly failed to activate his body cam until after the shooting, but his body camera has the ability to capture the 60 seconds immediately before the camera is turned on, Yost said. The “look back” feature doesn’t capture audio.
Coy was fired days after the shooting after the city’s police chief, Thomas Quinlan, reviewed the footage of the shooting.
In his letter to the city's public safety director, Quinlan wrote that Coy "had no immediate cause to believe criminal activity was afoot and certainly had no predisposition to believe Mr. Hill presented any threat to officers.”
On Wednesday, Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Hill family, said on Twitter that Coy’s indictment is one of the "first steps to get Andre and his family JUSTICE."
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