Police Shootings / Possible Abuse Threads [merged]

A former 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.

Officer Adam Coy, who served nearly 20 years with the Columbus police force, shot Hill four times in a garage nearly four years ago. Coy, who is white, was fired after the shooting. He told jurors that he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver that turned out to be keys.

“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.”

Coy, who was partially blocked from view by his grim-faced attorneys, did not visibly react to the verdict but muffled cries could be heard in the courtroom when it was announced.

Prosecutors asked that the former officer be sentenced immediately. Franklin County Judge Stephen McIntosh instead set a sentencing date of Nov. 25.

Coy, who is undergoing cancer treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma, was devastated, said defense attorney Mark Collins, who slightly shook his head “no” when the verdict was read and later promised to appeal.

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, seconds 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. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Weeks after the December 2020 shooting, the mayor forced out the police chief after a series of fatal police shootings of Black men and children.

Columbus later reached a $10 million settlement with Hill’s family, the largest in city history. The Columbus City Council also 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, who now faces at least 15 years in prison. The jury also found him guilty of reckless homicide and felonious assault.

“We’re taught, ‘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.”……..

https://apnews.com/article/7c9405baf78daf4394cb74df9ad2191e