Dayton attorneys to serve family in Columbus police fatal shooting case

A Dayton law firm announced that it will act as co-counsel in a case in which a Columbus police officer shot and killed a Black man holding a cellphone.

Wright & Schulte LLC will work with attorney Benjamin Crump as co-counsel for the family of Andre Hill, the firm announced Tuesday.

“While nothing can bring Andre Hill back to his family, we will do everything in our power to ensure that this family holds the Columbus Division of Police accountable for the actions of the officer who took Andre’s life,” said attorney Michael Wright.

Wright said the firm will work tirelessly to help Hill’s family get justice.

Hill, 47, was shot and killed Dec. 22 by a Columbus police officer Adam Coy when Coy and another officer responded to a neighbor’s non-emergency call. The Associated Press reported that bodycam footage showed Hill emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone before being shot by Coy. There is no audio of the shooting because Coy didn’t turn on his bodycam until after the shooting, but an automatic “look back” feature caught the footage, the AP reported.

Wright & Schulte said in a press release that Hill had been visiting the house where he was shot. Coy was fired this week, according to the AP.

The local law firm is not a stranger to high-profile lawsuits. Along with currently representing the family of Takoda Collins, a 10-year-old boy who died after what authorities say was “extreme abuse,” they also are representing the family of John Crawford, the 22-year-old Fairfield man who was fatally shot by police in 2014 inside the Beavercreek Walmart.

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