Long Live, Brother Andre!

Remembering the life of Andre Hill One-Year Later

Now this is the story all about how Andre Hill’s life got cut short and his family's life got turned upside down. So I'd like to take a minute for you to just sit right here and I'll tell you why Christmas time will never be the same for the Hill family.

It was the early morning hours on the 22nd of December in 2020. The year was both unprecedented and a little ironic — a year that left everyone speechless, 2020 was a year like no other for Columbus and December 2020 was that and more.

At 1:37 a.m. officers were dispatched on a report of a disturbance after receiving a non-emergency call from a neighbor. The resident reported a man sitting in an SUV for an extended period, repeatedly turning the vehicle on and off. 

Former Columbus Police Officer Adam Coy and Officer Amy Detwiler arrived at the scene to see a garage door open and Brother Andre inside. Based on a review of Coy’s officer body-worn camera footage, Hill walked toward him with a cell phone in his left hand. His right hand was car keys.

Coy fired his weapon multiple times, striking Andre four times, leaving him in his final minutes of life on this side of heaven to succumb to his gunshot wounds.  He would be pronounced dead at Riverside Hospital roughly forty-eight minutes later at 2:25 A.M. in a “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt.  

In America, you’re 3 to 6 times more likely to be killed during an encounter with the police if you're black. Which is a further injustice, when Black people are killed by the police, they are posthumously smeared in an attempt to justify the killing. 

When Brother Andre was lynched and murdered by Former CPD Officer Adam Coy his life clearly didn’t matter. Why? Because he was left on the ground for 11-minutes out of his last 48-minutes on this earth with everyone standing around after his lynching not rendering any type of aid. Not to mention the irony that he was wearing a “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt in his final minutes.

“The fact that he had a T-shirt on under his sweater that said ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Justice for George Floyd’ is so ironic when you put it all in context,” said national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Hill’s family.

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson writes in his book, A Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, “If justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public, then patience is what mercy sounds like out loud, and forgiveness is the accent with which grace speaks.” 

Black Columbus, it's time for us to take a stand!

On nights like this when I am trying to process how law enforcement officials could still be killing black folks in 2021 I find myself looking for someone to blame.

I blame the Division of Columbus Police because for the longest time they allowed the good ole boy culture to exist. And to top it off they blatantly forgot to teach their officers during training the full meaning of means to “protect and serve.” I blame Amy Detwiler who is still on the police force today as we enter 2022. I blame her because even though she didn’t fire the bullets that murdered Brother Andre. She implicitly stood by why he struggled for 11-minutes to breathe before anyone decided to render medical attention.

I remember back when I was growing up listening to Dr. King on the TV in school and him speaking about why communities need to have compassion for the people we blame. He asked that we have compassion because it could heal us so much better than vengeance and rage could.

I remember being upset because I did not understand why he was calling on Black America to have compassion. Even now as I tell this story I find myself getting enraged a little bit because it's not right that Andre won’t get to see his grandchildren or his daughter Karissa again. Or any of siblings either. Nor throw down in the kitchen as he liked to do during the holidays.

In these last 365-days some changes have come but not enough. The Hill family settled a lawsuit with the City of Columbus for $10-million. Karissa Hill, Andre’s daughter, fought for the city to pass Andre’s law. “I want Andre’s Law to go national,” she told UnBossed days after her father’s death.

The law makes the following changes to the City of Columbus code:

1. Requires the activation of body-worn cameras during any enforcement action or other situation outlined in the directives of the Columbus Division of Police.

2. Require Police to request aid from emergency medical services upon a use of force that results in serious bodily harm, as well as the rendering of medical aid under certain circumstances. Also, requiring police officers to obtain regular recertification to render aid.

On July 22, Ohio Representative Dontavius Jarrells, introduced Andre's Law, which would require officer body cameras and use of force provisions. He worked with current Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley to develop House Bill 367.

In addition to the record $10 million settlement with Hill's family, the city is renaming the Brentnell Community Center Gymnasium in the North Central Commission area after Andre' Hill with its new name being “Andre’ Hill Gymnasium.” 

UnBossed contacted the Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks to find out when the renaming would be official. Spokesperson Kerry Francis told us via email, “We’ve been working closely with the family to finalize plans and we anticipate the plaque will be installed in the gym shortly after the first of the year.”

We did reach out to the Hill family as well to corroborate the City’s statement and they confirm “they are working with them,” and “no date as of yet,” has been set.

As we mark the tragic one-year anniversary of Andre’s lynching and murder, we must never forget who killed him. We must never forget that he should still be here on this earth getting ready to celebrate Christmas with his grandchildren and family. We must never forget that CPD took a good man from us.

We also must never forget that Coy had been previously put on performance improvement plans after other incidents in his 19-year career, including a time when the city paid a $45,000 settlement concerning his use of force during an arrest.

Let us never forget any of that!

But most importantly, let us not forget to raise a glass to Brother Andre this Christmas for the impact that he had on this city of being a good Black man.

"Andre Hill should be alive today. A Columbus Police Officer is responsible for his death. I cannot defend it. I cannot make it right, but I will do what is in my power,” said Former Chief of The Columbus Division of Police Thomas Quinlan, who was the chief at the time of the lynching and murder of Andre Maurice Hill.