A former Columbus, Oh.., police officer was convicted of murder Monday in the shooting of Andre Hill a Black man who was holding a cellphone and keys when he was killed. Adam Coy, a Columbus officer for nearly 20 years, shot Hill four times in a garage nearly four years ago. Coy, who is white, was fired. He told jurors that he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver that turned out to be keys, the Associated Press reports. “I thought I was going to die,” he testified. It was only after he rolled over Hill’s body and saw the keys that he realized there was no gun, Coy said tearfully. “I knew at that point I made a mistake. I was horrified.” Judge Stephen McIntosh instead set a sentencing date of Nov. 25.
Police body camera footage showed Hill coming out of the garage of a friend’s house holding up a cellphone in his left hand, his right hand not visible, before he was fatally shot by Coy. Almost 10 minutes passed before officers at the scene began to aid Hill, who lay bleeding on the garage floor. Weeks after the December 2020 shooting, the mayor forced out the police chief a series of fatal police shootings of Black men and children. Columbus later reached a $410 million settlement with Hill’s family, the largest in city history. The Columbus City Council passed Andre’s Law, which requires police officers to render immediate medical attention to an injured suspect. Prosecutors said Hill, 47, had followed the officer’s commands and was never a threat to Coy.
Shawna Barnett, one of Hill’s sisters, hoped the jury’s decision would a send message that violence from police won’t be tolerated. Brian Steel, president of the police union in Columbus, was shocked by the conviction and said it would cause ripple effects for officers in Ohio and beyond. “Your split-second decision can now be led to murder,” he said. “It is absolutely insane.”
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