The Racist Delusion Defense: Columbus Cop Told Mostly White Jury He Presumed that a Black Man Holding a Phone Had a Gun in His Pocket so He Shot Him. Judge Rules His 90 Police Complaints Inadmissible

SYSTEM OF WHITE PRESUMACY: EXPECT INJUSTICE IN A SYSTEM WHERE BLACKS ARE CONSIDERED AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO RACISTS. From [HERE] The jury in the trial of a former Columbus police officer charged with murder in the December 2020 shooting of an unarmed Black man will resume deliberations Monday.

The panel deciding whether Adam Coy is guilty of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide deliberated for about four hours on Thursday and another five hours on Friday without reaching a unanimous decision.

Jurors will resume deliberating Monday morning. The jury consists of 16 jurors. The jury includes nine women and seven men, 13 of them are white and three are Black. [MORE]

During the selection process, the attorneys on both sides had several heated moments between each other because of conflicting opinions of who was impartial. Topics of race, past experiences and feelings toward the police were all discussed as they dwindled down potential jurors. 

The judge presiding over the case, Stephen McIntosh, ruled that Coy’s “prior use or non-use of force” could not be discussed during the trial. Judge McIntosh is black. The judge ruled that the jury could not hear about Coy’s history, including prior citizen complaints made about his use of force. Coy’s Columbus Division of Police personnel file showed he received 90 citizen complaints during his time with the department, including an incident where he pulled over a suspected drunk driver and slammed the person’s head on the hood of his police cruiser four times. [MORE]

During their deliberations, the jury has asked Judge Stephen McIntosh several questions, however, the content of those questions and the answers have not been revealed.

Coy fatally shot 47-year-old Andre Hill around 2 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, as Hill was leaving a garage on Oberlin Drive. Coy had been called to the neighborhood in response to a non-emergency call from a neighbor who reportedly witnessed someone sit in an SUV and turn the car on and off.

Hill was leaving a friend's house when Coy shot him. Hill was unarmed and was carrying just his mobile phone when he was shot on 22 December while leaving the garage of a friend, was wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt when he was killed.

The body camera footage shows the fatal shooting of Hill, who was a guest at the residence police responded to. Around 1:30 a.m, the video shows Hill inside a garage, walking toward Coy with a cellphone in his hand, the screen lit up and visible. Within seconds, Coy fires his weapons and Hill falls as Coy continues to ask Hill to show his hands.

Coy points his flashlight into the dark garage with his gun drawn and suddenly shoots Hill several times. An autopsy found bullets struck Hill in the chest, twice in the right thigh and an additional time in the right leg.

Coy did not have his body camera on when he got out of his vehicle and approached Hill, a clear violation of police policy. After the shooting, he turned it on, which activated a 60-second "look back" feature and recorded the shooting without audio.

Five minutes after he was shot by Officer Adam Coy, who is white, another officer can be heard in the footage saying: "Let's cuff him up. He's still moving."Mr Hill is then rolled over on to his stomach before being handcuffed and put on his back as the officers wait for an ambulance.

After Hill was shot, several officers handcuffed him while he lay unresponsive on the ground.Video recordings from Coy and others show that none of the multiple officers on the scene made an attempt to render first aid to Hill until ten minutes after he was shot

Minutes later, a more senior officer arrives and asks "anybody doing anything for him?" He then orders an officer to start CPR. Mr Hill was later pronounced dead.

Coy said he thought Hill seemed dismissive at first and then suspicious after walking to a house and knocking on the door before entering the garage.

Prosecutors questioned Coy on why he didn't ask Hill his name or call for backup if he was so concerned, CBS affiliate WBNS-TV reported. Coy said that Hill only partially obeyed his commands and was hiding his right hand.

"I thought he was going to draw. I drew my gun and fired four shots," Coy said.

Coy yelled, “Gun, gun, he has a gun!” before drawing his firearm and firing at Hill four times. Coy testified he saw silver metal in Hill’s right hand while Hill had his left hand up with a cellphone in it. 

The metal was Hill’s key ring. He was unarmed.  

"Andre Hill should be alive today," said Police Chief Thomas Quinlan in a video statement Thursday. "A Columbus police officer is responsible for his death. I can't defend it, I can't make it right, but I will do what is in my power."

His daughter Karissa Hill said "It is just disgusting how they did my dad. These pictures that I got to look at, I got to memorise my dad on the floor for the rest of my life and how nobody helped him.

"How there's 22 officers on the scene with body footage and not one of them helped my dad. It's unbearable. All because of this state, and who they hire.

"I mean, he is lying on the ground dying. I mean, what is Andre Hill's crime? Is it because he's a black man, and for whatever reason, police in America shoot first and ask questions later?"

The T-shirt Mr Hill was wearing on the night he died called for justice for Mr Floyd.

Ben Crump, the Hill family's lawyer, said officers' actions were unforgivable."Where is the humanity for Andre Hill? Where is the humanity for this Columbus citizen who had committed no crime, had no weapon, was unarmed, only holding a cell phone? Where is the humanity for this citizen?

"He offered no verbal commands before he started shooting Andre Hill. He didn't say stop. He didn't say freeze. He didn't say, put your hands up. He didn't give Andre Hill a chance. He didn't give him a chance."

The bodycam video shows Coy telling an officer leading him away from the home: "I gotta figure out what I missed".

"We'll take care of that I promise you," officer Jared Barsotti responded.

The footage also captures a woman inside the house where Mr Hill was shot telling officers that he had been bringing her Christmas money.

She shouted: "He was bringing me Christmas money. He didn't do anything."