A former police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man in Ohio after allegedly mistaking his keys and phone for a gun, has been convicted of murder.
Adam Coy, who served nearly 20 years with the Columbus police force, shot Andre Hill four times in a garage almost four years ago. Coy, who is white, was fired from the force after the shooting in the early hours of December 22, 2020.
On Monday, he was found guilty of murder. He now faces up to 15 years behind bars when sentenced on November 25.
During the trial, Coy told jurors that he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver and feared for his life. “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. “I knew at that point I made a mistake. I was horrified.”
Coy had gone to the neighborhood to investigate a suspicious vehicle complaint when he first encountered Hill sitting inside an SUV. Hill told Coy he was waiting on a friend to come outside.
The officer said he thought Hill seemed dismissive and then suspicious after Hill walked to a house and knocked on the door before entering the garage.
Coy said he lost sight of Hill and suspected he might be trying to break into the house. Coy used a flashlight to spot Hill in the garage and told him to come out, the officer testified. When Hill walked toward him, Coy said he could not see the man’s right hand and then saw what he thought was a revolver. He said he yelled, “Gun! Gun!” and then fired at Hill.
However, police body camera footage showed Hill emerging holding up a cellphone in his left hand, and his right hand was not visible. Officers arrived at the scene after the shooting, but almost 10 minutes passed before they began to aid Hill, who lay bleeding on the garage floor. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Prosecutors said that 47-year-old Hill had followed the officer’s commands and was never a threat to Coy. “We’re taught to do what the cops tell you to do, and you can survive that encounter,” Franklin County assistant prosecutor Anthony Pierson said during closing arguments. “That’s not what happened here.”
The officer’s attorneys argued that Hill’s lack of a weapon did not matter because Coy thought his life was in danger. “He wasn’t reckless, he was reasonable,” said attorney Mark Collins.
However, the court also heard that Coy had a lengthy history of complaints from residents, with more than three dozen filed against him since he joined the department in 2002, according to his personnel file. A dozen of the complaints were for use of force. All but a few were marked “unfounded” or “not sustained.”
Weeks after the December 2020 shooting, Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther forced out the police chief after a series of fatal police shootings of Black men and children. The Columbus City Council also passed Andre’s Law, which requires police officers to render immediate medical attention to an injured suspect.
Family and friends said Hill – a father and grandfather – was devoted to his family and was a skilled tradesman who dreamed of one day owning his own restaurant, after years of work as a chef and restaurant manager.
Columbus later reached a $10m settlement with Hill’s family, the largest in the city’s history.
