COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jury selection has begun in the trial of a former Columbus Division of Police officer charged in the shooting death of a man nearly four years ago.
Adam Coy is charged with murder, reckless homicide and felonious assault in Andre’ Hill's death. He was also charged with dereliction of duty for not activating his body camera when the incident happened, but those charges were dropped.
The former officer pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Coy fatally shot Hill on Dec. 22, 2020, as Hill emerged from a garage on Oberlin Drive holding a cellphone. Coy and another officer were responding to a non-emergency call on the report of a suspicious vehicle in the area.
Though neither officer turned on their body-worn cameras, a 60-second rollback with no audio captured Coy approaching the open garage with Hill inside. Authorities later said Hill was at the home visiting a friend.
Hill appeared from around a vehicle with the cellphone in his left hand. His right hand was not visible. Seconds later, Coy removed his gun and fired it at Hill. Coy's attorney, Mark Collins, has said the officer thought he saw Hill with a silver revolver in his hand.
About 10 minutes passed before officers at the scene began coming to Hill's aid, who lay bleeding on the garage floor. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The autopsy report from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office showed Hill was shot four times.
Coy, a 17-year veteran, was fired from the police department on Dec. 28, 2020.
He had a lengthy history of complaints from residents, with more than three dozen filed against him since he joined the department in 2002, according to his personnel file. A dozen of the complaints were for the use of force. All but a few were marked “unfounded” or “not sustained.”
Coy’s trial was initially set for 2022 but his attorney filed a request in August 2021 to move the trial out of Columbus. The judge denied the request, stating that a fair trial locally was possible.
Coy’s trial was then postponed indefinitely so the former police officer could receive chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Thomas Quinlan, who was the Columbus police chief at the time, stepped down from his position at Mayor Andrew Ginther's request amid a series of high-profile fatal police shootings of Black men and children.
The city reached a $10 million settlement with Hill’s family in May 2021, the largest in Columbus history.
Columbus City Council also passed Andre's Law, which requires police officers to render immediate medical attention to an injured suspect.