Andre Hill, the 47-year-old unarmed black man shot to death by police in Columbus, Ohio, just three days before Christmas, received no help for several minutes after being mortally wounded, a new police camera shows.
The footage, released on Thursday, was taken moments after Hill was shot by now former Columbus Police Department officer Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran in the force. The footage is from body cameras of several different policemen, including Officer Amy Detweiler, who was with Coy at the time of the shooting.
Coy was fired after Columbus police chief Thomas Quinlan recommended that the officer be fired for not turning on the body’s camera before the shooting and for not giving Hill medical assistance after shooting him. Both Coy and Detweiler violated the department’s protocol by failing to turn on their body cameras before the shooting, according to a directive published by the Columbus Police Department.
Columbus’s Director of Public Security, Ned Pettus Jr., agreed with Quinlan’s recommendation, citing “indisputable” evidence in his decision after a hearing on Monday.
“Adam Coy’s actions do not live up to the oath of a Columbus police officer, or the standards that we and the community demand of our officers,” said Pettus. “Andre Hill’s murder is a tragedy for everyone who loved him, as well as the community and our Police Division.”
Detweiler, who has been in force since 2011, has been transferred to the administrative function while an internal investigation of the shooting is conducted, according to NBC4i.
Hill was a guest of the owner where the shooting occurred and had not committed any crime when Coy and Detweiler arrived at 1:30 am on December 22.
Neither Detweiler nor Coy turned on their cameras before the shooting. However, a “look back” feature on the cameras meant recording 60 seconds of video before the officers activated them, but that did not capture the audio.
The Detweiler camera is activated after the shooting and Hill can be seen lying on his back in the garage. Coy tells Detweiler to get police support, which she then asks for on the radio. Shortly afterwards, the footage shows Detweiler getting into the car and taping police tape. As more police gather at the scene, an officer can be heard saying to Detweiler, “Handcuff him. He’s still moving.” Two unidentified policemen roll Hill face down while Detweiler steps over Hill and puts the handcuffs on his wrists.
A police officer can be heard reminding others to make sure their cameras are on.
The Detweiler footage also captures a woman leaving the house where the shooting takes place, saying, “He was bringing me money for Christmas. He did not do anything. ”Detweiler tells the woman to go back inside the house and the woman comes back inside.
Detweiler later said to another officer, “I didn’t shoot … I didn’t see what he saw.”
Images from Coy’s camera already launched on the body start showing Hill inside a garage before he was shot.
In the video, before turning on the audio, Hill can be seen holding a phone, with the well-lit screen facing Coy, while Hill appears to move slowly towards the policeman. Hill’s other hand is not clearly visible in the video. The camera shakes as Coy walks away from Hill, without audio, it is unclear when exactly Coy fires and also how many times Coy fires his gun.
Although he was not captured in the video, Detweiler told NBC News affiliate NBC4i, who heard Coy say “There’s a gun in the other hand! There’s a gun in the other hand!” before shooting Hill, Detweiler said he did not see a gun and Hill was later determined to be unarmed, NBC4i reported.
As soon as the audio is turned on, Hill is on the floor, lying near the back of a car parked in the garage. You can hear Coy shouting, “Put your hands to the side! Hands to the side! Now! Roll to your stomach, now!” while a motionless hill can be seen on the ground.
After several minutes, a police supervisor arrives at the scene and asks if someone was “doing something” for Hill and instructs a police officer to start pumping Hill’s chest. At this point, an officer finally begins to apply chest compressions to Hill. Associate Press estimates that about 10 minutes passed before Hill received medical assistance.
Hill was later pronounced dead in a hospital. Coy was not charged with any crime, but Franklin County District Attorney Ron O’Brien appointed Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost as the special prosecutor to conduct an investigation into Hill’s case.
After the footage was released, police chief Tom Quinlan said his initial reaction to seeing the videos was one of anger and “deep disappointment”.
“One of the central values of the police division in Columbus is compassion, and the video from the camera next to the body released today shows little of that,” said Quinlan in the video.
Ben Crump, Hill’s family lawyer, criticized the police in a tweet published on Friday.
“Andre Hill should be alive today and his death is indefensible! The rampant police mentality of shooting first and asking questions afterwards is indisputable evidence that black lives do not matter to many policemen,” Crump I wrote.
