Ohio attorney general appointed special prosecutor in death of Andre’ Hill

COLUMBUS, Ohio (NewsNation Now) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has been appointed a special prosecutor in the death of Andre’ Hill.

Outgoing prosecutor Ron O’Brien made a filing in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Thursday morning, appointing Yost and any assistants designated by him “a special assistant to the Prosecuting Attorney regarding the fatal shooting death” of Hill.

Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally shot by a Columbus police officer.

About six seconds pass between the time Hill is visible in the video and when the officer fires his weapon early Tuesday. There is no audio because the officer hadn’t activated the body camera; an automatic “look back” feature captured the shooting without audio.

Without audio, it’s unclear whether the officer, identified as Adam Coy, yelled any commands at Hill, whose right hand isn’t visible in the video. Police said no weapon was recovered from the scene. Hill was a guest at the residence.

Coy was responding to a non-emergency call when he spotted Hill in the open garage.

Coy has been placed on leave, and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has asked for him to be fired for not properly using his body camera in the incident and for not immediately offering medical assistance to Hill, who was pronounced dead later at Riverside Methodist Hospital.

The state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations is the lead agency looking into Hill’s death.

O’Brien has been a prosecutor since 1997, but he lost re-election in November to Gary Tyack, who is scheduled to take office on Jan. 4. Like O’Brien, Yost is a Republican, but Tyack is a Democrat.

NewsNation affiliate WCMH contributed to this report.