A magistrate judge has set the bond of the white former Ohio police officer who killed an unarmed black man at $3 million. Adam Coy, 44, f...
A magistrate judge has set the bond of the white former Ohio police officer who killed an unarmed black man at $3 million.
Adam Coy, 44, fatally shot 47-year-old Andre' Hill in December 2020 just seconds after he emerged from a garage with a cellphone in his hand.
The former officer was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday following a month-long investigation by the Ohio Attorney General's Office into the incident.
Mark Collins, a defense attorney representing Coy, had argued for a bond between $25,000 and $250,000.
But the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting Coy, contended that the high bond was necessary given the facts of the case.
Franklin County Court Magistrate Elizabeta Saken also ordered Coy not to have contact with any witnesses in the case, including other police officers.
Coy, who has been charged with murder, pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, Ohio's top law enforcement official, said he was pleased with the $3 million bond.
Hill was his friend's home in Columbus, on the morning of December 22 when a neighbor placed a non-emergency call about a suspicious car in the street.
The neighbor told the operators that there was man outside the home in a vehicle and he was turning it on and off again repeatedly.
Cops arrived at the friend's home at around 1.47am. Hill emerged from the garage with his hands up, holding a cellphone. No weapon was found at the scene.
Coy (left) was arrested and charged with murder for fatally shooting an unarmed black man, 47-year-old Andre Hill (right) on December 22. Bodycam footage shows that Coy fired six seconds after Hill emerged from a garage with his hands up, holding a cellphone
Coy has pleaded not guilty and claims he 'honestly believed' Hill was holding a 'silver revolver' in his hand. Pictured: Hill holding a cellphone when emerging from a garage
Bodycam footage showed it took Coy a mere six seconds to fire his gun,
The footage does not have audio because Coy did not turn his camera on until after he shot Hill.
According to police, this triggered a 'look back' feature on the camera that captures picture but not sound.
In the moments after Hill was fatally shot, additional bodycam footage shows two other Columbus officers rolled Hill over and put handcuffs on him before leaving him alone again.
None of them, according to the footage released, offered any first aid even though Hill was barely moving, groaning and bleeding while laying on the garage floor.
Hill was rushed to Riverside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2.25am.
Coy will fight the charges based on case law that examines such use of force incidents through the eyes of a 'reasonable police officer,' his attorney, Collins, said.
Collins added that his client has fully cooperated with investigators and 'honestly believed that he saw a silver revolver coming up in the right hand of the individual.'
The union representing Columbus police officers issued a short statement saying it will wait to see how the case plays out.
Coy 'will have the ability to present facts on his behalf at a trial just like any other citizen,' said Keith Ferrell, president of the local FOP.
'At that time, we will see all the facts for the first time with the public as the process plays out.'
The charges faced by Coy include failure to use his body camera and failure to tell another officer he believed Hill presented a danger.
According to the bodycam footage released (above), offered any first aid even though Hill was barely moving, groaning and bleeding while laying on the garage floor
When the incident occurred, Coy was a 19-year-veteran of the force with at least 36 complaints lodged against him. Pictured: Coy is seen remotely on a television during his initial appearance at the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse, February 2021
When the incident occurred, Coy was a 19-year-veteran of the force with at least 36 complaints lodged against him.
While Hill's family welcomed the news of Coy's indictment, data shows and experts conclude that Yost and the prosecution team will face a hard battle to secure a conviction.
Only 46 percent of cases of on-duty police shootings in which murder or manslaughter charges were brought over the past 16 years ended up in convictions, according to data compiled by Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The overall rate for murder convictions among the general population is about 70 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data.
This is the second Columbus police officer recently charged with murder. Former vice squad officer Andrew Mitchell was charged in state court in 2019 with fatally shooting a woman during a 2018 undercover prostitution investigation.
Mitchell is also charged federally with forcing women to have sex with him under threat of an arrest, pressuring others to help cover up crimes and lying to federal investigators when he said he´d never had sex with prostitutes. He has pleaded not guilty.
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