COLUMBUS – Columbus police say Chief Thomas Quinlan has ordered the officer who shot and killed a Black man holding a cell phone on the Northwest Side Side early Tuesday morning relieved of duty, requiring him to turn in his badge and gun.
UPDATE 12/23/20 3:57 p.m.: This story has been updated with the identities of the officer and victim
UPDATE 12/24/20 4:53 p.m.: Chief Thomas Quinlan announces action to terminate Ofc. Adam Coy.
The officer was identified as Ofc. Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran with the Division of Police, who was relieved of duty Tuesday and stripped of police powers pending the outcome of a criminal and subsequent internal investigation, assistant public safety director Glenn Mcentyre said in a statement.
Under the city’s contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, Mcentyre says the officer will be paid during that time.
The victim has been identified as 47-year-old Andre Maurice Hill.
An “angry, frustrated” Mayor Andrew Ginther called for the officer to be relieved of duty because he did not turn on his body-worn camera until after the shooting.
“Let me be clear: If you’re not going to turn on your body-worn camera, you cannot serve and protect the people of Columbus,” Ginther said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.
Hill was shot to death at approximately 2:00 a.m. in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive, police said.
“The Division [of Police] invested millions of dollars in these cameras for the express purpose of creating a video and audio record of these kinds of encounters. They provide transparency and accountability, and protect the public, as well as officers, when the facts are in question,” Quinlan said.
Although neither officer involved in the incident activated their body-worn cameras until immediately after the shooting, Mcentyre says because of a 60-second “look back” function of the cameras, the shooting was captured on video.
Officers were dispatched to the area at 1:37 a.m. when a resident reported a man sitting in an SUV for an extended period of time, repeatedly turning the vehicle on and off, Mcentyre said.
When Coy and the other officer arrived at the scene, they saw Hall inside an open garage and body-cam video shows Hill walking toward Coy with a cell phone in his left hand. His right hand was not visible, Mccntyre said.
Coy fired his weapon, striking Hill, who died at Riverside Hospital at 2:25 a.m., Mcentyre said.
No officers were injured in the incident.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting the probe into the shooting under an agreement that requires the agency to investigate shootings involving Columbus officers.
Ginther said he has also asked the office of the U.S. Attorney to review the case to determine if the Hill’s civil rights were violated.