Another officer who responded with Coy said he couldn’t see Hill’s right side or a gun. According to the report, she heard Coy say she saw a gun and shouted, “There’s a gun in the other hand, and another gun in the other!”
The notes of that other policeman’s interview were published Tuesday by the police after CNN requested the documents.
Hill was not armed, and Coy’s body camera did not capture audio because he did not activate it until after the shooting. But a retrospective feature captured 60 seconds of video without audio before Coy turned on the camera. The video, released by the police, shows Coy approaching Hill and the encounter that culminated in the shooting.
Brian Steel, vice president of housing for the local Police Fraternal Order, said Coy has 10 days from the date of resignation to ask the organization to take his case to arbitration, which he has not yet done. It is not automatic that the store would plead Coy’s case as well. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, Steel said.
Coy can also request the intervention of a court or civil service commission, Steel said. CNN was unable to reach Coy to comment on Tuesday. The other police officer also gave an interview to criminal investigators from the state’s Criminal Investigation Bureau at the scene, according to a report on the shooting prepared by police chief Thomas Quinlan with the help of internal affairs investigators.
The report noted that the officers involved behaved differently than officers in other shootings to which he responded.
“I responded to many shooting scenes involving police officers and talked to many police officers after these critical incidents,” the report said. “There was something very different about police involvement after this critical incident that is difficult to describe in this letter.”
The report, signed by Quinlan, noted that concerns were raised with others after reviewing the video and watching police officers at the scene.
“Based on my direct observations of this meeting, I informed the board and city hall of what I was witnessing. I explained that I observed events with my own eyes and ears that, in my experience, raised many alarms about the officer ‘s actions in using deadly force” , says.
An internal investigation into other police officers at the scene is ongoing and it is unclear whether others will be punished. A separate investigation by the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation is underway, examining whether criminal charges are appropriate.
Coy and the other officer had been dispatched on an emergency call to someone “continually restarting a gray SUV” and found Hill in a garage. Both had their weapons drawn and approached from opposite sides, according to their interview.
Coy asked Hill to leave the garage and Hill did not respond verbally, but started to leave the garage.
Hill’s left hand held a cell phone, but his right hand was “hidden behind the leg”. The released records indicate that Hill had dropped his left hand before Coy shot him, but it is unclear in Coy’s video what happened – and the Columbus police did not release any other videos.
“(The other police officer) said he didn’t see a gun. (She) said police officer Coy looked at a gun and shouted, ‘There’s a gun in the other hand, and a gun in the other hand!’ (She) heard shots at this moment “, according to notes from the interview with the other police officer. “(She) had nothing more to add and the interview was concluded.”
The memo said there was no audio evidence of the meeting because Coy did not activate his camera. But as soon as Coy’s camera was on and he had audio, the report noted that Coy was “verbally excited and giving orders”, while “Hill was lying on the floor with his back to the officers and clearly in danger of health”.
“Officer Coy rolled Mr. Hill over and immediately reacted with great distress using profanity when he realized that Mr. Hill was unarmed,” the report said.
The officers present at the scene did not provide first aid, but asked “immediately” for paramedics. Coy asked the other officer for a support officer, who would normally assist an officer “in a critical event,” according to the documents.
“Officer Coy was heard on his camera (next to the body) becoming physically ill,” the report said. “The cops started protecting the scene with tape from the crime scene and eventually handcuffed Mr. Hill. Medical aid was only provided a few minutes later.”
The report notes that there was a “prolonged delay” for paramedics to arrive and “no police on site administered first aid or gave guarantees to Mr. Hill until several minutes later”.
Coy arrived on the scene at about 1:42 am and Hill was shot minutes later, according to the events timeline in the Quinlan report, and Hill was pronounced dead at 2:25 am at Riverside Hospital.