By Linhchi Nguyen
COLUMBUS, OH – Mayor Andrew Ginther called for the immediate termination of a police officer who failed to turn on his body camera during his fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man early Tuesday.
Ginther expressed his outrage during Wednesday’s press conference about the shooting of 47-year-old Andre Maurice Hill in his own home.
He asked Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan to fire the officer involved, Adam Coy, stating that those who will not turn on their body-worn camera “cannot serve and protect the people of Columbus.”
The incident occurred Tuesday at around 1:30 a.m., when two officers were responding to a non-emergency call about a man repeatedly turning on and off his car in a garage. Because this was a non-emergency call, run lights and sirens were not engaged as officers arrived. As a result, the dash camera in the police cruiser was not activated for any part of this run.
Officer Coy also did not turn on his body camera until later, but a “look back” function of the video was able to capture a minute of the encounter prior to the activation without any audio.
According to the body camera footage, the officers walked up to an open garage and shone their lights on Hill, who turned around and held up his cell phone. Less than 10 seconds later, Coy took 
several steps toward Hill and fired his weapon at him.
Coy then activated his body camera, and the video showed Coy pointing his gun and shouting, “Put your f***ing hands out to the side. Hands out to the side now!” However, as he approached closer to the garage, the video revealed Hill’s body lying on the ground beside his car.
Coy continued to yell, “Put your hands up from beneath you now!” while shining a flashlight on Hill’s motionless body.
Mayor Ginther added that he was “disturbed” with the fact that the body-worn camera footage showed that “none of the officers initially at the scene provided medical assistance to Mr. Hill. No compression on the wounds to stop the bleeding. No attempts at CPR. Not even a hand-on-the-shoulder and an encouraging word that medics were en route.”
Instead, Coy walked over to Hill and rolled him onto his back. A few minutes later, sirens were heard through the audio as the ambulance arrived at the scene.
Hill was then taken to Riverside Hospital, where he died about an hour later, police said.
On Wednesday, the Columbus police released an official report that was rather brief and absent of most details: “Officer discharged his firearm upon confronting Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill did not survive his injuries.”
On that same day, Police Chief Quinlan said in a statement, “This is a tragedy on many levels. Most importantly, a life has been lost. That must be our focus going forward.”
He further commented on the police’s failure to turn on their body cameras, saying, “The Division invested millions of dollars in these cameras for the express purpose of creating a video and audio record of these kinds of encounters. They provide transparency and accountability, and protect the public, as well as officers, when the facts are in question.”
Coy will not return to work until he has been cleared by an independent psychologist. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will also be handling the case to review if any federal civil rights laws were violated.
“We promise that we will provide as much transparency as possible on our part, both with the investigators and the public,” Quinlan concluded. “Our community deserves the facts. If evidence determines that laws or policies were violated, officers will be held accountable.”
Linhchi Nguyen is a fourth year at UC Davis, double majoring in Political Science and English. She currently lives in Sacramento, California.
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