A white police officer who shot a black man dead in Columbus, United States last week, was fired on Monday, city officials said.
Officer Adam Coy, 44, was terminated Monday afternoon from the Columbus Police Department just hours after the Franklin County coroner’s office ruled Andre Hill‘s death a homicide.
The hearing was led by Director of Public Safety Ned Pettus Jr., who promised a ‘prompt‘ decision on Coy’s employment. Hours after the hearing concluded, the 17-year veteran was officially fired.
His termination comes seven days after he fatally shot dead Hill, 47, in the early hours of December 22.
Police bodycam footage of the fatal exchange shows Hill stepping out of an open garage door holding up a cellphone as two Columbus police officers approach him, just after 1am.
Just six seconds later, Coy opened fire at Hill. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Riverside Hospital at 2:25am.
Earlier Monday, the coroner’s office said their preliminary investigation determined Hill died of multiple gunshot wounds. A full autopsy report is expected in 12 to 14 weeks.
The death of Andre Maurice Hill triggered outrage in a country that has been racked by protests against police brutality and systemic racism in 2020.
The officer, Adam Coy, was initially suspended after the shooting but has now been fired.
Columbus police chief, Thomas Quinlan said;
The evidence provided solid rationale for termination. Mr Coy will now have to answer to the state investigators for the death of Andre Hill.
Hill, who was not armed at the time of the shooting, was the second African-American killed by police in less than three weeks in Columbus.
Ben Crump, a lawyer who has represented the families of several of the victims of police killings, expressed;
Andre Hill’s death is another tragic example of the tendency of police to view black people as criminal or dangerous, and it points to the need for comprehensive, national police reform.
Crump represented George Floyd, whose brutal killing by a white police officer in May triggered the biggest wave of racial protests in decades.
Watch a video extracted from the body camera of former police officer, Adam Coy as he brutally shot unarmed Hill;
