‘I thought I was going to die’: Former Ohio police officer Adam Coy testifies at Andre Hill murder trial

Former police officer Adam Coy appeared before him as a witness murder trial on Monday and told the jury he believed Andre Hill intended to shoot him with a silver revolver when he opened fire on the 47-year-old unarmed black man in the dark garage of a home in Columbus, Ohio.

“I thought I was going to die,” an emotional Coy, a former member of the Columbus Police Department, testified about the fatal December 22, 2020 encounter with Hill.

After firing four shots and approaching Hill, who lay bleeding on the garage floor, Coy said he searched for a gun he believed Hill had, but found a large set of keys, a light-up cell phone and a pack of cigarettes near Hill’s body.

“I got to the point where I was standing next to Mr. Hill and I knocked him back down,” Coy testified. “I started looking for where the guns were and I saw a pile of keys there and I said, ‘F—.’ I knew at that moment I had made a mistake.”

Coy, 47, took the witness stand on Monday after prosecutors withdrew their case. Franklin County prosecutors called just six witnesses over three days and showed the jury sitting in Franklin County Common Pleas Court video from a surveillance camera that captured Coy shooting Hill as he emerged from a friend’s garage with a cellphone.

Once the defense has rested, prosecutors are expected to present a case refuting their testimony and call an expert witness as part of police training.

Coy, who is white, faces charges of murder, assault and reckless homicide. He pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, Coy faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Something’s wrong here”

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Collins, Coy said he responded to a complaint about a suspicious vehicle parked on the street at 1:30 a.m. with the engine turning on and off.

Coy testified that when he arrived at the scene, he approached the vehicle to which the 911 caller directed him.

Coy said that as he approached the car, the driver, who turned out to be Hill, rolled down his window and took out his cell phone.

“The driver says, ‘I’m waiting for someone to come out. They’ll be out in a second,’” Coy testified.

Coy said he wished Hill a “good evening,” then returned to the patrol car and waited for the person to come out and meet Hill.

“He seemed wide-eyed, a little nervous and dismissive,” Coy said of Hill. “He wanted to cut off contact with me as quickly as possible.”

Coy testified that after a few minutes, Hill got out of the car, walked to the front porch of the house and knocked on the door, but received no answer.

He said Hill then returned to his vehicle, searched the front seat, then returned to the house and knocked on the door again.

Coy said he asked Hill, “What’s going on?” But Hill ignored him.

He said that when Hill went to the front door of the house a second time and knocked, Hill looked over his shoulder at him and again received no answer.

“It makes you wonder, ‘What is this person’s intention?'” Coy testified. “With everything that’s going on at this point, I’m starting to have a more reasonable suspicion that there’s a crime going on here and he’s not being honest with me.”

He testified that by the time his colleague, Officer Amy Detweiler, arrived on the scene, he had lost sight of Hill and that the two officers decided to go to the driveway of the house to determine Hill’s whereabouts.

Coy testified that he did not have his gun drawn when he and Detweiler walked down the driveway.

He said he shined a flashlight into the dark, open garage, looking for Hill.

“About this time I see a light flicker at the back of the garage. Maybe two or three steps up the driveway I see a shimmer low to the ground in the back corner of the garage,” Coy testified.

As he pointed his flashlight toward the flickering light, he testified, “Mr. Hill is crouched in the rear right corner of the garage.”

“I shine my flashlight at him and say, ‘Something’s wrong here. Come here, show yourself,” Coy testified.

“It was the worst night of my life”

Coy said Hill approached him holding a light-up cellphone in his left hand. However, Coy testified that Hill was walking next to a car parked in the garage and did not see the man’s right side.

Coy claimed that Hill “flashed” or adopted “the stance a boxer would adopt if he were to get into a fight.” He said he believed Hill was holding his cell phone “as a distraction.”

He said he finally saw Hill’s right side when Hill reached the back of a car parked in the garage.

“When he turns to face you, what do you see?” Collins asked.

Coy replied, “Silver revolver in his right hand.” Coy said it appeared Hill raised the gun from above his leg and “it was coming towards me.”

“I pulled out my gun,” Coy said. “I shouted, ‘Gun! Weapon!” and I fired four shots.”

Collins asked, “Why did you fire four shots?”

Coy replied, “That’s what stopped it.”

Coy testified that when he realized he was wrong about what Hill was holding in his right hand, he felt “terrified.”

“It was the worst night of my life,” Coy testified. “I was shocked. I started dry heaving. I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t think clearly. Everything became blurry to me.”

Coy concluded his direct testimony by saying, “I saw an immediate threat and I didn’t want to be shot right before Christmas.”

The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday.