Ohio city reaches $10 million settlement over police killing of Black man

(Reuters) -The city of Columbus, Ohio said on Friday that it reached a $10 million settlement with the family of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man fatally shot in December by a police officer who was subsequently fired and indicted.

Hill, 47, was shot and killed by Adam Coy, a 44-year-old white man, on Dec. 22. Coy, a 19-year-veteran of the Columbus police force, was responding to a nuisance call about car noise.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein called the statement the largest of its kind in the history of Ohio’s capital city.

“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,” Klein said in a statement.

“Now all those involved can begin to heal,” Hill’s family said in the same statement.

A series of police killings of Black people have highlighted longstanding accusations of racial injustice in U.S. law enforcement.

Last summer, high-profile deaths in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Louisville and elsewhere triggered nationwide protests that pushed police reform to the top of the U.S. political agenda.

Coy, who was fired by the police force a week after the shooting, was indicted by a grand jury on one charge of murder, one charge of felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty on Feb. 3.

Coy pleaded not guilty to the charges two days later. WSYX, an ABC affiliate in Columbus, reported that he was released from jail on a $1 million bond on Feb. 9.

Coy told other police officers that he thought Hill was holding a gun and he feared for his life.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in February that Hill had a cellphone and no weapons were found at the scene.

In addition to the financial settlement, the City of Columbus will rename the gymnasium located inside a community center, the Andre Hill Gymnasium, Klein said.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; edited by Diane Craft, Cynthia Osterman and John Stonestreet)

Fired Ohio policeman pleads not guilty in Black man’s killing, granted bail

By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – A former Ohio police officer pleaded not guilty on Friday to murder and other charges in the shooting death of an unarmed Black man, the latest in a series of killings that have raised questions of racial injustice in U.S. law enforcement.

At the hearing in Franklin County court, Judge Elizabeta Saken agreed to release the former officer, Adam Coy, a 19-year-veteran of the Columbus police force, on $3 million bail.

Coy, a 44-year-old white man, was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday in the Dec. 22 killing of Andre Maurice Hill, 47. Coy was responding to a nuisance call about car noise.

The former officer, shackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, appeared at the hearing through a video monitor from a jail where he has been held since his arrest on Wednesday.

Coy’s attorney, Mark Collins, told the court Friday that his client is not a danger to the public and is not a flight risk, emphasizing his connections to the community and family ties.

“This case is unique,” Collins said. “It is not a who-done-it, but whether or not his use of force was justified. He is not a threat, your honor.”

Coy was indicted on one charge of murder, one charge of felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty.

The case is the latest in a series of police killings of Black people that have highlighted longstanding accusations of racial injustice in U.S. law enforcement. Last summer, a handful of high-profile deaths in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Louisville and elsewhere triggered nationwide protests that pushed police reform to the top of the U.S. political agenda.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)