COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The family of Andre’ Hill, the Black man who was fatally shot by a Columbus police officer in December, will receive $10 million from the city in a proposed settlement.
City Attorney Zach Klein announced the agreement Friday. It must be approved by City Council, which is set to vote on it Monday.
Hill, 47, was shot by Officer Adam Coy on Dec. 22. Coy was sent to the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive on a nonemergency call of a vehicle being turned on and off repeatedly during the overnight hours. Body camera footage showed Hill in the garage of a house where he was a guest. Coy yelled to a fellow officer that he thought Hill had a gun before firing.
Hill, who was unarmed, later died at a nearby hospital.
Family attorney Ben Crump called the settlement the largest for a pretrial excessive use of force case in Ohio during a news conference discussing the settlement, and Hill’s daughter, Karissa, spoke of the pain of knowing her father laid on the ground after being shot for several minutes.
“You have to remember how my dad died,” Karissa Hill said. “He died on a 311 call, nonemergency. He was shot four times. And after the four times, he was laying on the floor. There were 22 officers on scene. Nobody helped my father.
“The money is not even enough to help how the pain or anything of my dad laying on that floor. We don’t know what was going through his conscious mind as the police officers were checking his pockets and handcuffing him rather than trying to help him while the hospital was three minutes away.”
Coy, who did not activate his body camera until after the shooting, was fired from the force a week later and is facing charges including murder and reckless homicide. He has pleaded not guilty.
“We understand that because of [Coy’s] actions, the Hill family will never be whole,” Klein said. “No amount of money will ever bring Andre’ Hill back to his family, but we believe this is an important and necessary step in the right direction.”
Shortly after moving to dismiss Coy, Mayor Andrew Ginther returned Chief Thomas Quinlan to his previous role as a deputy chief and launched a search for a chief from outside the department to change its culture.
“Andre Hill should still be alive today, and no amount of money will bring him back,” Ginther said in a statement. “My commitment to social justice, racial equality and healing in our community remains unwavering.”
In addition to the payout, the city will rename a gymnasium at the Brentnell Community Center after Hill.
A statement from Hill’s family read: “The Hill family and their legal team, attorneys Ben Crump, Richard W Schulte, & Michael Wright, want to thank the City of Columbus and its leaders for doing the right thing by agreeing to a financial resolution with the family and renaming the Brentnell Community Center Gymnasium after Andre’ Hill. Now all those involved can begin to heal.”
Karissa Hill said she had many memories of herself and her father at the community center, and she hopes to see her father memorialized there with a painting or mural.