A former Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man holding a cellphone has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Adam Coy, who was convicted of murder in November, was handed the mandatory sentence nearly four years after the shooting of 47-year-old Andre Hill. However, Coy says he plans to appeal.
“I feel my actions were justified. I reacted the same way I had in hundreds of training scenarios,” he said. “I drew and fired my weapon to stop a threat, protect myself and my partner.”
Coy fired four shots at Hill in December 2020, striking him once in the chest and three times in the leg as Hill emerged from a garage holding a cellphone in one hand and keys in the other.
Body camera footage showed that Coy and fellow officer Amy Detwiler had approached the scene with guns drawn. Neither officer had activated their body cameras until after the shooting, but a lookback feature captured the moments before Coy opened fire— within 10 seconds of encountering Hill.
“I knew at that point I made a mistake,” Coy told jurors during his trial in October 2024. “I was horrified. It was the worst night of my life.”
Prosecutors argued Hill never posed a threat and had followed commands. Detwiler testified that she did not see a gun or feel threatened. A report from her internal affairs interview stated, “Officer Detwiler stated Officer Coy observed a firearm and yelled, ‘There’s a gun in his other hand, there’s a gun in his other hand!’” However, no weapon was recovered at the scene.
The officers had responded to a non-emergency call around 1:37 a.m. about someone turning a car on and off and playing loud music. Hill, who was visiting a friend’s home, complied when asked to exit the garage. Within moments, Coy fired four times.
Almost 10 minutes passed before any life-saving aid was administered. Hill died less than an hour later at the hospital.
“To watch my brother die, I mean, out there with no medical help, period, no kind of sympathy or empathy for him at all, and then to watch him get turned over and handcuffed is unbelievable,” Hill’s sister Shawna Barnett said in a 2021 interview with “CBS Mornings.”
In victim impact statements delivered at the sentencing, Hill’s family described him as a kind, well-loved man known to his grandchildren as “Big Daddy.” His ex-wife and sisters emphasized his gentle nature and the senselessness of his death, according to CBS.
Coy, a 20-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department, had a long history of citizen complaints, though most were deemed unfounded. He was fired days after the shooting, and in April 2021, indicted on charges of murder, felonious assault, and reckless homicide. He also faced two counts of dereliction of duty for failing to turn on his body camera and failing to alert his partner to what he claimed was a perceived threat.
Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan recommended Coy’s firing, stating the use of force was not objectively reasonable. Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. upheld the decision, saying Coy violated the department’s use-of-force policy, failed to render aid, and neglected to activate his camera.
“I have responded to many officer-involved shooting scenes and spoken with many officers following these critical incidents,” Quinlan wrote in a December 2020 report. “There was something very distinct about the officers’ engagement following this critical incident that is difficult to describe for this letter.”
In the aftermath of the killing, the city of Columbus passed “Andre’s Law,” requiring officers to activate body cameras during enforcement actions and to administer medical aid following any use of force. Hill’s death also contributed to the ouster of the city’s police chief amid broader scrutiny of fatal police shootings of Black residents.
The city reached a $10 million settlement with Hill’s family, the largest in Columbus’s history. The settlement included a provision to rename the Brentnell Community Center gymnasium in Hill’s honor. Hill had spent significant time at the center, and his family said the renaming carried deep emotional value.
“That was a place that he spent a lot of time and a place that is very meaningful to their family,” attorney Michael Wright said. “To have that done makes them very happy.”
City Attorney Zach Klein acknowledged the emotional toll of the incident. “We understand that because of this former officer’s actions, the Hill family will never be whole,” he said. “No amount of money will ever bring Andre Hill back to his family, but we believe this is an important and necessary step in the right direction.”
The entire settlement is to be paid immediately upon approval by the city council and court. It bars future legal action related to Hill’s death against Coy, Detwiler, or any of the other 16 named officers involved.
Attorney Ben Crump, representing the family alongside Wright and Richard W. Schulte, said Hill’s death might have been prevented if aid had been rendered promptly. An autopsy supported that view.
“We’re happy that this has occurred, but this is a first step. We want the officer to be convicted, we want him to be incarcerated,” Wright said after Coy’s indictment. “The family is happy and they’re cautiously optimistic that Officer Coy will have to pay the price and be convicted for the killing of Andre Hill.”
Hill’s shooting occurred less than three weeks after another high-profile police killing in Columbus — the death of 23-year-old Casey Goodson, who was shot by a sheriff’s deputy.
Former Franklin County Deputy Jason Meade is scheduled to be retried on murder charges in December after his first trial ended in a mistrial in February 2024. Both cases intensified public outcry and raised pressure on local officials to overhaul policing standards and accountability.
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