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Ohio police gave Andre Hill no aid for several minutes, bodycam footage shows


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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-police-gave-andre-hill-no-aid-several-minutes-bodycam-n1252646

 

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Andre Hill, the unarmed 47-year-old Black man fatally shot by police in Columbus, Ohio, just three days before Christmas received no aid for several minutes after being mortally wounded, new police body camera footage shows.

The footage, released Thursday, was taken in the moments after Hill was shot by now-former Columbus Police Department officer Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force. The footage is from the body cameras of several different officers, including officer Amy Detweiler, who was with Coy at the time of the shooting.

 

Coy was fired after Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan recommended the officer be terminated for failing to turn his body camera on ahead of the shooting and for failing to give Hill medical assistance after shooting him. Both Coy and Detweiler violated the department's protocol by failing to turn on their body-worn cameras ahead of the shooting, according to a directive published by the Columbus Police Department.

Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus, Jr. agreed with Quinlan's recommendation, citing "indisputable" evidence in his decision following a hearing on Monday.

“The actions of Adam Coy do not live up to the oath of a Columbus Police officer, or the standards we, and the community, demand of our officers,” Pettus said. “The shooting of Andre Hill is a tragedy for all who loved him in addition to the community and our Division of Police.”

Detweiler, who has been on the force since 2011, has been reassigned to administrative duty while an internal investigation of the shooting is conducted, according to NBC4i.

Hill was a guest of the homeowner where the shooting took place and had not committed a crime when Coy and Detweiler arrived at 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 22.

Neither Detweiler nor Coy turned their cameras on ahead of the shooting. However, a "look back" feature on the cameras meant it recorded 60 seconds of video prior to the officers activating them, but this did not capture audio.

Detweiler's camera activates after the shooting has occurred and Hill can be seen sprawled on his back laying in the driveway. Coy tells Detweiler to get him police support, which she then radios for. Shortly after, the footage shows Detweiler getting into her car and then putting up police tape. As more police gather at the scene, an officer can be heard telling Detweiler, "Cuff him up. He's still moving." Two unidentified officers roll Hill onto his stomach while Detweiler steps over Hill and then puts the handcuffs on his wrists.

An officer can be heard reminding the others to make sure their cameras are on.

Detweiler's footage also captures a woman exiting the home where the shooting takes place, saying, “He was bringing me Christmas money. He didn’t do anything.” Detweiler tells the woman to go back inside the house and the woman goes back in.

Later, Detweiler tells another officer, “I didn’t shoot ... I didn’t see what he saw.”

Previously-released footage from Coy's body-worn camera begins by showing Hill inside a garage before he is shot.

In the video, prior to the audio turning on, Hill can be seen holding a phone, with the brightly lit screen facing Coy, as Hill appears to move slowly toward the officer. Hill's other hand is not clearly visible on the video. The camera shakes as Coy backs away from Hill, without audio, it's unclear when exactly Coy fires as well as how many times Coy fires his weapon.

Although it's not captured on the video, Detweiler told NBC News affiliate NBC4i that she heard Coy say "There’s a gun in his other hand! There’s a gun in his other hand!” before he shot Hill. Detweiler said she did not see a weapon and Hill was later determined to be unarmed, NBC4i reported.

Once the audio does turn on, Hill is on the ground, lying near the back of a car parked in the garage. Coy can be heard shouting "Put your f-----g hands out to the side! Hands out to the side! Now! Roll to your stomach, now!" while an unmoving Hill can be seen on the ground.

After several minutes, a police supervisor arrives at the scene and asks if anyone was "doing anything" for Hill and directs an officer to start pumping Hill's chest. At this point, an officer finally begins giving Hill chest compressions. The Associate Press estimates roughly 10 minutes passed before Hill was given medical assistance.

Hill was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Coy has not been charged with a crime but Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien has appointed Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost as special prosecutor to conduct an investigation of Hill’s case.

After the footage was released, Police Chief Tom Quinlan said his initial reaction to seeing the videos was anger and "deep disappointment."

"One of the core values of the Columbus division of police is compassion, and the body-worn camera video released today shows little of that," Quinlan said in the video.

Ben Crump, the attorney for Hill's family, lambasted the police in a tweet posted on Friday.

"Andre Hill should be alive today and his death is indefensible! The rampant police mentality to shoot first and ask questions later is incontrovertible evidence that Black lives don't matter with too many law enforcement officers," Crump wrote.

 

 

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