Adam Coy, the white Columbus, Ohio, police officer who shot and killed Andre Hill, a black man holding a phone, last week was fired on Monday.
Coy’s termination came hours after a disciplinary hearing to determine if he could stay on the force after killing Hill.
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“The actions of Adam Coy do not live up to the oath of a Columbus Police officer, or the standards we, and the community, demand of our officers,” Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. said in a statement. “The shooting of Andre Hill is a tragedy for all who loved him in addition to the community and our Division of Police.”
Last Tuesday, Coy and another officer responded to a non-emergency call about a suspicious vehicle at about 1:30 a.m. According to a copy of the call, the vehicle had been running, then shut off, then turned back on.
When they arrived at the location they found Hill sitting inside an open door garage, according to bodycam footage. Hill then walked toward Coy holding an illuminated cell phone in his left hand, about 5 seconds later the officer shot him. It is not clear whether the men said anything to each other since the officer did not turn on his bodycam until after the shooting. An automatic “look back” feature captured the 60 seconds prior to the shooting without audio.
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Neither officer moved to administer aid while Hill laid on the floor of the garage for five minutes after the shooting. At one point, Coy, a 19 year vet on the force said, “Don’t move dude.” He was later pronounced dead at Ohio Health Riverside Methodist Hospital.
This is accountability.
Police Chief Thomas Quinlan, who recommended Coy’s firing immediately after the incident last week said in a statement: “This is what accountability looks like. The evidence provided solid rationale for termination. Mr. Coy will now have to answer to the state investigators for the death of Andre Hill.”
An investigation is also being conducted into the other officers who responded to the call. Quinlan said they violated department protocols when they failed to activate their body cameras or to render Hill aid.
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Even though it was a non-emergency call, it became enforcement action when the officer interacted with Hill because that was separate from the original call, police department spokesperson Sgt. James Fuqua said, according to The Associated Press.
Coy remains under criminal investigation lead by the state’s criminal investigations unit with assistance from the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI’s Civil Rights Division. Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Hill’s death, The Associated Press reports.
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Second death in three weeks
This is the second time in three weeks that police murdered an unarmed black man in Columbus.
On Dec. 4, Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Meade, who is white, killed Casey Goodson Jr.
Hill was reportedly wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt on Tuesday when he was shot. He was 47-years-old.
