Images from the police body’s camera released on Thursday show Columbus, Ohio, policemen handcuffing a seemingly lifeless black man after shooting him several times and then stopped for five minutes and 11 seconds without providing first aid.
Andre Hill, 47, had a cell phone in his left hand but had no weapons when he left a friend’s garage on December 22 and was shot dead.
After the shooting, a woman came out of the house and said to the police, “He was bringing me the Christmas money. He did nothing,” according to the video on the body’s camera. The police ordered her to return to the residence without asking questions, the footage shows.
Ben Crump, the Hill family lawyer, said a now-fired police officer opened fire without first giving Hill any verbal command to stop and raise his hands. Crump said Hill was shot four times.
“It is really difficult to stay here and maintain my composure, because I am completely outraged at how they treated my brother,” Hill’s older sister, Shawna Barnett, told a news conference after the body camera videos were released. does not make sense. They showed no humanity towards him. How do you sleep at night knowing that you did it and left it there and had the courage to turn it over and handcuff it, but offered no help. Nothing.”
Hill’s family asked prosecutors to criminally prosecute former Columbus officer Adam Coy for Hill’s death.
Hill’s daughter, Karissa Hill, 27, who lived with her father along with their three young children, said in a shaky voice that she will have to remember for the rest of her life “like no one helped him”.
“As there are 22 police officers on the scene and with images of the body camera and none of them helped my father. But instead, the first time they touch him is to put handcuffs on, ”she said.
Crump said the police showed the video to family members along with him and other lawyers working on the case on Thursday morning, and said the footage confirmed “Andre Hill’s unnecessary, unjustifiable and meaningless shooting”.
“Where is humanity for Andre Hill? Where is humanity for this Colombo citizen who did not commit a crime, had no weapon, was unarmed, just holding a cell phone? Where is humanity for this citizen, for this father, this grandfather, this brother? “Crump said.” It makes you wonder if they were trying to save his life instead of handcuffing him, would Andre Hill be with us today? “
Hill was shot dead after Coy and another police officer, Amy Detweiler, responded to a 311 non-emergency call for a noise complaint.
The video from the body camera was released a day after the police made public an “informative summary” of the interview that investigators conducted with Detweiler. In the interview, Detweiler said he heard Coy shout that Hill had a gun in his hand. She couldn’t remember whether Coy gave Hill an order to drop a gun.
Detweiler said he did not see a gun in Hill’s hand and that he saw no threat from Hill during the incident.
Coy only turned on the body camera after shooting Hill. But his camera automatically activated and recorded 60 seconds of the episode without sound.
Crump said that after Coy shot Hill, he and Detweiler stayed close to him for five minutes and 11 seconds.
“He is on the ground struggling to breathe and no police officer has provided medical assistance to him,” said Crump.
He said that although Hill was motionless on the floor, a police supervisor told officers to handcuff him. Crump said officers left Hill handcuffed for 13 minutes without providing any help.
“You see in the video, they handcuff a dying man, who was unarmed, that they shot several times for a 311 non-emergency call,” said Crump. “What is his crime? Why are they handcuffing him?”
Hillary’s other sister, Michelle Hariston, added that after watching the videos from the body’s cameras, she was under the impression that the police were treating her brother “like an animal.”
“He was attacked and didn’t stand a chance,” said Hariston. “We are completely outraged by what happened.”
Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan released a video on Thursday saying his initial reaction to seeing the videos “was one of anger and deep disappointment”.
“I know it’s horrible for everyone who looks at him,” said Quinlan. “One of the core values of the Columbus Police Division is compassion. And the video from the camera next to the body released today shows little evidence of that. Let me repeat what I said last week: Andre Hill must be alive today. One Columbus police officer is responsible for his death. I can’t defend him. I can’t fix him. “
Quinlan added that Coy’s violations of police policy and standards “were so clear and blatant that his resignation could not wait”.
He said Coy faces an independent criminal investigation by the state and the US Department of Justice.
Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther also issued a statement condemning what he saw in the images from the body camera.
“Like most of those who watched the additional camera filming on the body of the Andre Hill shooting and the time that followed, I am appalled at the time that passed before any officers provided assistance to Mr. Hill,” said Ginther. Trained to provide care. with the potential to save lives and, at the very least, comfort in these situations. One of the core values of the Police Division is compassion. None of this was evident in the video released today. “
Ginther said he instructed Quinlan to investigate the incident “completely and completely, and to hold all officers accountable for failing to meet Division standards”.
But Michael Wright, another lawyer representing Hill’s family, claimed that the police department had had several chances to fire Coy in the past, adding that an investigation by his office allegedly found 90 complaints against Coy since 2001. He said 16 of the complaints were substantiated.
“It means that there should have been some kind of action,” said Wright.
The lawyer did not detail the source of Coy’s complaints, and the police have not yet commented on the former policeman’s background.
Wright showed reporters an enlarged copy of a report Quinlan wrote about Coy when he was his patrol lieutenant in 2008.
“In a letter I wrote in 2008 while Officer Coy’s patrol lieutenant, I made the following observation about whether, if sustained improvements are not fully realized, a decision whether Officer Coy can be recovered should follow,” wrote Quinlan, according with the document Wright showed reporters, “If the interventions described above do not produce the desired results, a change to termination would be warranted, as Officer Coy’s service to the Police Division will have lost all future value.”
“It didn’t have to happen,” said Wright. “If the Columbus Police Department had done its job and fired Adam Coy before that happened, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Andy Fies of ABC News contributed to this report.