July 29, 2025
Adam Coy was immediately fired after the ordeal but his lengthy history of citizen complaints came to light.
Former Columbus, Ohio, police officer Adam Coy plans on appealing his mandatory 15-year-to-life sentence as he feels his “actions were justified” after killing Andre Hill, a Black man who was simply holding his phone and keys, Associated Press reports.
In December 2020, Coy shot Hill four times, claiming he feared for his life after he mistook Hill’s phone and keys for a silver revolver.
Coy, who is suffering from Hodgkin lymphoma, told the jury before being convicted of murder that he feared for his life and acted accordingly.
“I feel my actions were justified,” Coy said. “I reacted the same way I had in hundreds of training scenarios. I drew and fired my weapon to stop a threat, protect myself and my partner.”
Police body camera footage showed Hill coming out of the garage of a friend’s house with a cellphone in his left hand just seconds before being fatally shot by Coy. Approximately 10 minutes passed before officers at the scene offered medical assistance. Prosecutors successfully argued that the victim obeyed police commands and was never a threat to Coy.
During a time when cases of police brutality such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor took over the nation, Hill’s death caused an uproar in the Columbus community. Coy became the first Columbus police officer to receive a conviction in an on-duty death, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Before Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Stephen McIntosh handed down the mandatory sentence during the July 28 hearing, Hill’s only child, Karissa Hill, spoke on the hardship she was dealt with having to explain to her children that their grandfather, who they called “Big Daddy,” was killed.
Her three children, she said, had seen the body camera footage.
“To explain to them that a police officer took their Big Daddy away, it’s the hardest thing to do,” Karissa Hill said. “Those are the people they tell us to rely on. If stuff happens, you’re supposed to call the police. Someone thought they were doing the right thing and called the police, and now my dad’s not here.”
Andre Hill’s sister, Shawna Barnett, remembered her brother as being “a source of joy, laughter and strength” and said the sentencing is more about justice for her brother, but holding someone accountable.
“His life was taken in the most brutal and unjust way. Without cause, without mercy,” Barnett said. “He died alone, unarmed and undeserving of what happened to him. Our lives are split into before and after, and we are left with pain that does not fade.”
After the city settled with Hill’s family for $10 million, the largest in city history, Columbus lawmakers passed a law requiring police to give immediate medical attention to injured suspects.
Coy was fired after the shooting, but his lengthy history of citizen complaints came to light, resulting in the mayor forcing the police chief out of the position following a pattern of fatal police shootings of Black people.
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