BODYCAM footage captures the moment a black man emerges from a garage holding up a cellphone seconds before he was shot dead by a Columbus cop. The shocking video – released by the authorities in Ohio – shows the tragic encounter between police and Andre Hill, 47, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. There […]
BODYCAM footage captures the moment a black man emerges from a garage holding up a cellphone seconds before he was shot dead by a Columbus cop.
The shocking video – released by the authorities in Ohio – shows the tragic encounter between police and Andre Hill, 47, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
There is no audio because the officer had not activated his body camera but an automatic “look back” feature captured the shooting.
About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in the video and when the officer fires his weapon.
Without audio it is unclear whether the officer – identified as Adam Coy – yells any commands or warnings at Hill, whose right hand is not visible in the video.
Authorities say no weapon was recovered from the scene and revealed the victim was “visiting someone” at the time of the shooting.
Hill lay on the garage floor for several minutes without any officer on the scene coming to his aid.
That violates policy requiring officers to help the injured, said Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther on Wednesday, calling for Coy to be fired.
Coy also violated departmental policies requiring his camera’s full video and audio functions to have been activated, he said.
Columbus police values, including integrity, compassion and accountability, “were absent and not on display” while the victim lay dying, said Ginther.
After Coy activates the audio he is heard swearing as he yells at Hill, now lying on the garage floor, to put his “hands off to the side! Hands out to the side now!”
A few seconds later Coy yells at Hill: “Roll to your stomach now,” and then, “Get your hand up from underneath you, now!”
Coy then asks a dispatcher: “We got a medic coming” and yells, “Don’t move, dude!” to Hill as he lies on his side groaning.
Hill died less than an hour later in hospital.
Ginther and Police Chief Thomas Quinlan have expressed anger that Coy did not activate his body camera beforehand.
Officers must activate their body cameras as soon as they are dispatched to a major incident such as a shooting, robbery or burglary, under departmental policy.
Beyond that, officers must turn the cameras on at the start of an enforcement action or at the first reasonable opportunity to do so, according to the policy.
Although Coy was dispatched on a non emergency call, the call became an enforcement action when the officer interacted with Hill because that was separate from the original call, explained police department spokesperson Sgt. James Fuqua.
Therefore, the camera by policy should have been activated, he said.
Coy, a 17-year member of the force, was relieved of duty, ordered to turn in his gun and badge, and stripped of police powers pending the outcome of investigations.
However, because of his union contract, he will still be paid.
Officers responded to a call from a neighbour at 1.26am about a car in front of his house, according to a transcript of the call released Wednesday.
“I figure if its company for the neighbors, they wouldn’t be out there running it for that long period of time,” the man tells the police dispatcher.
“I mean, I’d go out there, but I don’t want to get in trouble. I don’t have a gun,” he said, laughing. “My wife’s really concerned about it.”
Attorney General Dave Yost has promised a complete, independent and expert investigation of the shooting.
The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which falls under the attorney general’s office, conducts probes of Columbus police shootings under an arrangement with the city.
“What we have now is an incomplete record. We must allow the record to be completed and the evidence to be gathered,” Yost said.
“Only the truth the whole truth and nothing else will result in justice.”
The shooting comes weeks after a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy fatally shot Casey Goodson, 23, in the doorway of his grandmother’s Columbus home as he walked through the front door.
The case sparked a federal civil rights investigation as well. The shooting prompted days of protests in Columbus.
The officer involved, Jason Meade, a 17-year veteran of the sheriff’s office assigned to a U.S. Marshals Office fugitive task force, remains on administrative leave.
