Bail reduced for former officer charged in Andre Hill death

A Franklin County, Ohio, judge has reduced the bail for the former police officer charged in the fatal shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man who was unarmed at the time.

Franklin County Judge Stephen McIntosh reduced former Columbus Police Officer Adam Coy’s bail from $3 million to $1 million Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Coy’s attorney Mark Collins filed the motion Sunday, saying his client had sincerely believed Hill was armed and posed a danger to him. Coy, responding to a call, shot Hill as he emerged from a garage holding a phone in one hand.

“Even the officer in the George Floyd case was given a $1 million bond, and this case is nothing like that in any way, shape or form,” Collins said Friday, to the AP. “Our client had a good faith basis to believe that the individual had a silver revolver and he responded. He’s done everything that’s been asked of him. And this $3 million bond is just what we feel inappropriate.”

Coy, who has been dismissed from the Columbus Police Department, was indicted last week on four charges, including murder. He has pleaded not guilty to all four.

Collins noted that Coy remained in the area while the grand jury deliberated and said this indicated he did not pose a flight risk.

“The Ohio Attorney General’s Office cannot argue in good conscience that Adam Coy is a flight risk all of sudden when he has cooperated with their offices from the very beginning of their investigation and has done everything the police department and the Ohio Attorney General has asked of him,” Collins wrote in the motion.

Franklin County Court Magistrate Elizabeta Saken’s ruling prohibits Coy from making any contact with witnesses in the case, including his former colleagues at the department.