COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A national civil rights attorney representing the family of a man killed by police in Ohio last week held a press conference Saturday, accompanied by members of the man’s family.
Ben Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, is now representing the family of Andre’ Hill, the man shot and killed by Columbus Police Officer Andrew Coy Tuesday.
“We’re not here for ourselves,” Crump said. “We’re not here for our own emotions about this. We’re not here for other than supporting this beautiful family through this tragic time.”
Hill, 47, was shot and killed by Coy, who was responding to a non-emergency call. Body-camera footage shows Hill approaching Coy from an open garage door with a phone in one hand and his other hand not visible right before Coy fired.
Crump said the family would be pursuing an independent autopsy of Hill’s body to determine how many times he was shot.
“He wasn’t an intruder, he wasn’t a criminal, he wasn’t doing anything nefarious,” Crump said. “His crime was he was a Black man.”
The shooting has prompted many, including Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther, to call for Coy to be fired from the department.
“Police brutality and implicit bias don’t even take a break for Christmas,” Crump said, flanked by members of Hill’s family. “And so I know it’s inconvenient for a lot of people, but I just want you to think about how inconvenient, how heartbreaking, and how devastating it is for Karissa (Hill’s daughter) and her children who were expecting big daddy to bust through the door on Christmas morning.”
The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is the lead agency looking into Hill’s death.
Hill is the second Black man this month to be shot and killed by a law enforcement officer in Columbus. On Dec. 4, Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was shot and killed by Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Meade, who at the time was assigned to the U.S. Marshall’s Office. The Columbus Police Department is investigating this shooting while the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice are conducting a civil rights violation investigation.
