Jury Rejects White Columbus Cop’s Testimony. Found Guilty of Murdering Andre Hill; Shot Black Man Holding a Phone, Was Not Under Arrest, Denied CPR. How Much Jail Time Will Black Liberal Judge Impose?
/From [HERE] and [HERE] A former Columbus, Ohio, police officer was found guilty of murder on Monday in the 2020 shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man whose death spurred protests against police brutality and led to police reforms in the city.
A Franklin County jury also found the officer, Adam Coy, who is white, guilty of two other charges, felonious assault and reckless homicide. Mr. Coy was taken into custody after the verdict was read. He will be sentenced on Nov. 25. He faces at least 15 years in prison after the jury verdict on Monday.
Coy fatally shot 47-year-old Andre Hill around 2 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, as Hill was leaving a leaving a friend's house 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 unarmed and was carrying just his mobile phone when he was shot. He was wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt when he was killed.
The body camera footage shows that around 1:30 a.m, 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, who is white and had served 20 years on the Columbus, Ohio police force. 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 a liberal judge who is black and is a former prosecutor. 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]
“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 realised there was no gun, Coy claimed during trial. “I knew at that point I made a mistake. I was horrified.”
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.
The jury did not find the white officer to be credible and rejected his testimony.
Brian A. Steel, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents thousands of law enforcement officers in the county, said that Mr. Coy’s actions in a fast-evolving situation had been based on his training.
“We mourn with the community over the tragic loss of Mr. Hill, but we stand firm in our belief that Officer Coy was subject to political and media bias that no one should face in a court of law,” Mr. Steel said in a statement.
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 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."