COLUMBUS (AP) — Newly released records show an officer on the scene of last week’s fatal shooting of Andre Hill did not observe any threats before a fellow officer fired at him.
Meanwhile, the federal government says it will not charge two Cleveland police officers for the 2014 fatal shooting of Tamir Rice.
Internal affairs reports released Tuesday show that Columbus Officer Amy Detwiler was with Ofc. Adam Coy when the Dec. 22 shooting of Hill happened.
The records show Detwiler heard Coy say Hill had a gun in his hand but Detwiler did not see a gun. No gun was found.
Body cam video shows the 47-year-old Hill, who is Black, walking toward the officers with a cellphone in his left hand and his right hand not visible.
The city fired Coy, who is white, on Monday, accusing him of incompetence and “gross neglect of duty,” among other charges.
The Justice Department says it cannot bring federal criminal charges against two Cleveland police officers for the 2014 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, whose death became a national symbol in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tamir was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland when he was shot and killed by Ofc. Timothy Loehmann, who is white, seconds after Loehmann and his partner arrived at the scene.
The burden of proof in federal civil rights cases involving police officers is very high. Prosecutors must prove that an officer’s actions willfully broke the law rather than being the result of a mistake, negligence or bad judgment.