Adam Coy spoke to Andre Hill before he was shot on trial for murder

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include testimony Thursday afternoon.

almost four years after an unarmed black man was fatally shot by a Columbus police officer in a parking garage on the Northwest Side, jurors heard new details about the shooting.

Former Columbus police officer Adam Coy, 47, is on trial on charges of murder, aggravated assault and negligent homicide in the Dec. 22, 2020, shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill.

Defense attorneys made opening statements Thursday at the trial, which began Monday with jury selection. A jury of 12 jurors and four deputies — nine women and seven men — was selected on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday afternoon, the jury, along with the judge, the prosecution, defense attorneys and a sheriff’s deputy, went to inspect the scene of the shooting.

For nearly four years, the narrative surrounding Hill’s shooting centered on Coy firing four shots at Hill around 2 a.m. as he walked back from a parking garage in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive.

Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Renee Amlin and defense attorney Kaitlyn Stevens said Thursday that Coy and Hill had been communicating before the shooting, a fact previously undisclosed by investigators.

What did prosecutors say in their opening statement at Andre Hill’s trial?

Hill, who was using his boss’s car for work, had parked in front of a nearby home to meet someone who lived in the home where the shooting happened, Amlin said. Amlin said Hill would occasionally turn the SUV on and off to stay warm in the cold December temperatures.

This movement and the stop attracted the attention of a neighbor, who did not call the police in an emergency.

Amlin said that when Coy got to Oberlin Drive, the neighbor who called police, Robert Ronker, came outside and said the SUV had gone two houses down to a house on the other side of where the shooting happened.

Coy approached Hill, who showed him a text message that indicated someone was coming outside to meet him, Amlin said.

“Who ordered Andre Hill out of the garage,” Amlin said. “He began to follow Coy’s orders and moved towards the open garage door.”

Amlin said Hill held up a cell phone in his left hand and his right hand was not visible.

“After Andre Hill drove around the rear bumper of the white car, Officer Coy yelled ‘gun’ and shot Hill four times, killing him,” Amlin said. “The evidence will show that Andre Hill was not armed.”

What did Adam Coy’s defense say in opening statements?

Koya’s defense said there was something else to the story. Stevens said Coy first approached Hill while he was sitting in the SUV, and before Coy could say anything, Hill showed him a cell phone.

“He seemed to be hiding something, he looked disdainful, wide-eyed and nervous,” Stevens said.

Stevens told jurors Coy was sitting in his cruiser with the door open to watch Hill when Hill got out and walked toward the home where the shooting happened, not the home he was parked in front of at the time. Hill knocked on the door, but the lights didn’t come on, and no one came to the door.

After knocking again, Hill returned to the SUV and began “poking around” the driver’s side.

As Hill walked back down the path, Coy yelled, asking Hill to talk to him about what was going on, Stevens said.

“Man ignores him,” Stevens said. “Adam watches as he continues to ignore him. He looks back to see what Adam was doing, to see what Adam’s response was.”

After a brief conversation with a female police officer who arrived at the scene, Coy and another officer approached the home with the garage door open. The officers lost sight of Hill’s location, but when Coy saw Hill holding a bunch of keys that looked similar in shape and size to a revolver, he reacted, Stevens said.

“He saw the glint of steel pointed in his direction, he believed it was a gun, and the evidence will show that the mistake was a reasonable one,” Stevens said. “In hindsight, no one in this courtroom disputes that the events that unfolded on December 22, 2020, were tragic. We do not lose that someone lost their life, father and friend.”

What evidence has the jury already heard?

On Thursday afternoon, jurors heard Roenker say he called police after an SUV parked outside his home sat on and off for about three hours.

During the call, Roenker told a police dispatcher that he did not go outside to check if anyone was in the SUV.

“I don’t want to get in trouble. I don’t have a gun,” Ronker said.

Roenker said he saw the woman who had stayed in the house next door to the shooting outside outside and approached Coy to tell him. But Roenker said Coy ordered him back to his house.

After Roenker’s testimony, Columbus Police Officer Amy Detweiler, who responded to the Oberlin Drive call with Coy, took the stand.

Detweiler testified that she got to Oberlin Drive after Coy, and when she arrived she saw Hill walking toward an open garage. The license plate on the SUV he was coming from was not registered to anyone who lived in the area.

Detweiler said the lights were off in the garage, and when she shined a flashlight from the end of the driveway, she saw Hill in the garage with his back turned.

“He was in an open garage. There’s no solution, so we have to make contact,” Detweiler said. “We need to talk to the man in the garage.”

Detweiler testified that she was on the right side of the garage and could not see the right side of Hill’s body. She said she heard Coy order Hill to go outside.

“There was a pause,” she said. “He didn’t jump out, he paused and then came back to me.”

Detweiler said she saw the illuminated screen of Hill’s cell phone in his left hand and heard Coy yell “gun, gun, he’s got a gun” before Coy fired four shots.

Detweiler said she raised her gun but did not fire because she did not see a firearm. Her testimony was interrupted by an objection related to her body camera video, which Deputy Chief Counsel Anthony Pearson planned to play for jurors.

After a lengthy delay, Judge Stephen McIntosh dismissed the jury for the day, saying lawyers needed to work on unspecified “legal issues”.

Detwiler’s testimony is expected to continue on Friday.

What else has happened so far in the Adam Coy trial?

On Wednesday afternoon, with a breeze and partly cloudy skies, jurors arrived in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive to view the scene of the shooting. A small white bus brought them along with Judge Stephen McIntosh, Deputy Chief Counsel Anthony Pearson and Coy’s lawyer Mark Collins.

When the bus stopped on Oberlin Drive, a makeshift memorial for Hill could be seen in a clearing of trees in front of the street, complete with heart and star balloons and a sign reading “#JusticeforAndreHill,” “Life Is Grand,” and “All Lives Matter.” the house next to the one where Hill was fatally shot.

After a discussion with Judge McIntosh, Pearson and Collins removed the memorial before the jurors got off the bus so as not to harm the jurors. The memorial was placed across the road on the grass near the place where the journalists were watching. The memorial was returned to its original location after the jury finished examining the scene.

Jurors remained on Oberlin Drive for about 15 minutes before returning to the courthouse.

What happened during the shooting of Andre Hill?

Body camera video showed the shooting, which occurred in the early morning hours of December 22, 2020, after police responded to an unusual noise complaint. Although Coy and Detwiller did not have body cameras on during the shooting, the video was shot without sound 60 second look back on body cameras used by the police at the time.

Footage from Coy’s body cameras, as well as those of other officers, showed that Hill did not receive medical attention for more than 10 minutes after he was fatally shot.

Who was fired by the Columbus Police Department less than a week after the shooting. His personnel records show that more than 90 citizen complaints were filed against him during his 19 years with Columbus police.

Which trial was there? postponed indefinitely while the former Columbus police officer underwent cancer treatment. He is now considered to be in good enough health to stand trial, which is likely to last two to three weeks.

Hill’s family sought damages from Coy and Columbus police. City agreed to pay Hill’s family $10 million due to Hill’s death.

In accordance with the city’s agreement with Hill’s family, the gym at the Brentnell Community Center, located at 1280 Brentnell Ave., was renamed in Hill’s honor.

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