COLUMBUS, Ohio — The mayor of Columbus on Wednesday publicly demanded the city’s chief of police to terminate an officer who fatally shot 47-year-old Andre Maurice Hill early Tuesday morning.
Mayor Andrew Ginther said 44-year-old Adam Coy, a white officer and a 19-year veteran with the division, displayed a "stunning disregard for life" in the aftermath of the shooting.
The Department of Public Safety on Wednesday afternoon released footage from Coy’s body-camera capturing his fatal shots.
Coy and an unnamed female officer were dispatched at 1:37 a.m. to the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive after a call of a person turning an SUV on and off. The body-camera video shows Hill walking from an open garage toward Coy with a cellphone in one hand as the offers approached.
There is no audio during the frames when the shots were fired, a result of the officer only activating his body-camera after the shooting. A 60-second "look-back" function on the cameras captured the video. Hill died at Riverside Hospital at 2:25 a.m. Tuesday.
During a briefing Wednesday, the mayor said he is calling for Coy’s termination, citing his failure to turn on his camera and his failure to promptly administer first aid as Hill was bleeding out. The video does not show aid administered until more than six minutes had passed.
"I have never seen body-worn camera footage like that where literally no attempts to revive and aid this man, who had committed no crime, was dying. That is a stunning disregard for life, and in this case, Black life."
Ginther said he will let the investigation proceed and not presuppose Coy’s guilt in firing the fatal shots. But from what he knows so far he said Hill’s death is a "simply unexplainable loss."
The mayor said Hill was not a resident of the home where he was shot, but said he "was known to the residents at the home."
"He was expected. He was not an intruder," Ginther said.
Ginther says even without determining the officer’s guilt in the shooting, Coy's actions in the aftermath are enough to warrant termination.
"None of the officers initially at the scene provide medical assistance to Mr. Hill -- no compressions on the wounds to stop the bleeding, no attempts at CPR, not even a hand on the shoulder, an encouraging word that medics were en route," he said.
Terminating Coy will involve a disciplinary proceeding and a formal hearing, but it will first require Division of Police Chief Thomas Quinlan to present him with formal disciplinary charges.
"Yesterday, I called on Chief Quinlan to relieve Coy of duty, stripping him of his badge, gun, and police powers. After further review of the incident today, I am calling for the immediate termination of Coy," Ginther said.
It is unclear if Coy is currently receiving pay. Per union contract, his pay can be suspended for 20 days, officials said, but Public Safety Director Ned Pettus, who spoke at Wednesday’s press conference, was unsure if Coy had been relieved with pay or relieved without pay.
Pettus said the disciplinary process will proceed in a matter of weeks, not months. Further investigation will determine if other officers might face disciplinary action for failing to administer aid, Ginther said.
The mayor said his office is working to make farther contact with Hill’s family. Earlier in the day, Ginther attended the funeral of another resident who was fatally shot by law enforcement earlier in the month, Casey Goodson Jr. Goodson, an unarmed Black man, was shot on Dec. 4 by Franklin County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jason Meade. That case remains under investigation.
The two incidents appear to have led Ginther to reassess his faith in Quinlan.
"The director and I are going to hold the division, these officers, and ultimately the chief accountable for what has happened," Ginther said.
Asked when he will decide if Quinlan stays or goes, Ginther said he will make the decision once he knows more about the investigation into the shooting. Quinlan was not present when Ginther addressed the media Tuesday or Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Ginther declined an opportunity to say he had faith in Quinlan, instead stating he is committed to an independent investigation and will take "whatever steps are necessary."