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Prince George’s police investigate why officer shot handcuffed suspect Prince George’s officer faces murder charge in shooting of handcuffed suspect, two people familiar with the investigation say
(about 4 hours later)
Officials in Prince George’s County are investigating why a police officer shot and killed a handcuffed suspect during an apparent struggle inside a police cruiser on Monday night in the Temple Hills area. Prince George’s County police will charge an officer with murder in the shooting of a man who was handcuffed and wearing a seat belt in the front seat of a cruiser, two officials said Tuesday.
Police said they were called to Winston Streetafter 8 p.m., near the intersection with St. Barnabas Road, after receiving a 911 call about a motorist who had struck several vehicles beginning in the Silver Hill area. Police Chief Hank Stawinski plans to announce the charges at a news conference at 6 p.m., said the officials, who spoke ahead of the public announcement on the condition they not be named.
A man was taken into custody and placed in a cruiser, said Cpl. Kyndle Johnson, a police spokeswoman. Police have not identified the victim, but his family said William Green, 43, of Southeast Washington. He was killed while sitting in the passenger side of a police cruiser in the Temple Hills area.
Police have not yet identified the victim, but Ronald Green said Tuesday that his brother William Green was the man shot and killed. He declined to comment further in a brief phone conversation, saying his attorney told him not to speak. His death was not caught on a body camera, prompting an outcry from Green’s family, advocates and some county officials.
Police said Tuesday afternoon that a news conference that had been scheduled at 1:30 p.m. was postponed. A new time has not yet been scheduled. Gina Ford, a spokeswoman county executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D), declined to comment ahead of the news conference. “We have a lot of questions,” said John Mathis, whose mother was engaged to Green.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said Tuesday that her office is in the process of obtaining information about the shooting. Mathis, 19, said Green was a Megabus luggage loader, who was slated to be promoted to dispatcher Tuesday. Mathis said Green has two adult children. Green attended the Temple of Praise Church in Southeast Washington.
“The public certainly deserves to get the full story,” Braveboy said in an interview. “We will conduct a thorough investigation that is independent from the police investigation … any in-custody death is problematic.”
Database of police shootings from 2019
Johnson said Monday night police thought the suspect may have been under the influence of PCP, a hallucinogenic that has been associated with violent behavior.
At some point, she said, a struggle broke out inside the cruiser and the suspect was shot.
“Witnesses saw a struggle inside the vehicle,” Johnson said, “and heard multiple bangs.”
The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he died.
John Mathis, whose mother was engaged to Green, said the family has not received any information about what prompted the shooting from police.
“We have a lot of questions,” Mathis said.
Mathis, 19, said Green was a Megabus luggage loader, who was slated to be promoted to dispatcher Tuesday. Mathis said Green has two adult children. Green attended the Temple of Praise church in Southeast Washington.
“He was a funny dude, the guy you turned to when you needed a laugh,” Mathis said.
Mathis said Green had gone out to dinner at a restaurant on Monday night and was driving home when the incident unfolded. Mathis said the suggestion by police that Green might be under the influence of PCP during the shooting didn’t square with the man he knew.
“That wasn’t like him,” Mathis said.
Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Christina Cotterman, who briefed reporters at the scene, said police expect to conduct a long, detailed investigation into what happened inside the cruiser. As of Monday night, she said, they were at the “very beginning.”
The officer involved was placed on administrative leave, as is routine in such matters, Cotterman said.
Cotterman said the officer was in the driver’s seat of the cruiser, and the suspect was in the front passenger seat. That conforms with department policy, she said.
The incident was not caught on a body camera, Cotterman said. Police are looking to see if there were any other cameras in the area.
State Sen. Obie Patterson (D-Prince George’s), whose district includes Temple Hills, said he was “sort of shocked” to learn the officer was not wearing a body camera when the incident took place.State Sen. Obie Patterson (D-Prince George’s), whose district includes Temple Hills, said he was “sort of shocked” to learn the officer was not wearing a body camera when the incident took place.
“It’s a red flag,” said Patterson, who previously served on the county council.“It’s a red flag,” said Patterson, who previously served on the county council.
Advocates at Casa de Maryland, the state’s largest immigrant advocacy group, pushed last year for a bill to require police to wear body cameras. But that bill did not advance. In Prince George’s, not all patrol officers are assigned body cameras. Currently one squad of officers per police district have body cameras. Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Christina Cotterman said a news conference that was initially scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday was postponed so that police could continue investigating.
County Council Chair Todd Turner (D-District 4) said in an interview last year that council members are united in wanting police to wear body cameras, but the issue is funding their rollout. Gina Ford, a spokeswoman for county executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D), declined to comment ahead of the news conference. Ford said Tuesday afternoon that the county executive would not make any statement ahead of the police department.
Braveboy said there are about 80 officers who have body cameras in Prince George’s department, which has more than 1,500 officers. Cpl. Kyndle Johnson, a police spokeswoman, said Monday night that police thought the suspect may have been under the influence of PCP, a hallucinogenic that has been associated with violent behavior. At some point, she said, a struggle broke out inside the cruiser and he was shot, then taken to the hospital, where he died.
“We believe that the public should have that high level of transparency, but we only have what we have,” Braveboy said. Mathis said the suggestion by police that Green might be under the influence of PCP during the shooting didn’t square with the man he knew.
Police experts said suspects are most commonly put in the backseat of cruisers, but some departments allow suspects to ride in front, especially if the car doesn’t have a cage separating front and back. “That wasn’t like him,” Mathis said.
Database of police shootings from 2019
He said Green had gone out to dinner at a restaurant on Monday night and was driving home when the incident unfolded. Police said they were called to Winston Street, near the intersection with St. Barnabas Road, after 8 p.m.
Green’s brother Ronald Green declined to comment saying his lawyer told him not to speak.
The ACLU said Tuesday that Green was “killed needlessly” and condemned the lack of a body camera worn by the officer. The ACLU statement described Green’s death as part of a pattern of Prince George’s County police harming black men in their custody.
The ACLU cited as examples the killing of Leonard Shand, who was armed with knives, by police in Hyattsville last year and the injury of Demonte Ward-Blake during a traffic stop in Oxon Hill.
“It is absolutely senseless for full transparency to not be a number one priority for this department,” the ACLU said. “It should have been a top priority years ago, but these recent tragic events only make this need more urgent.”
County Council Chair Todd Turner (D-District 4) said in an interview last year that council members are united in wanting police to wear body cameras, but the issue is funding their rollout. Advocates at Casa de Maryland, the state’s largest immigrant advocacy group, pushed last year for a bill to require police to wear body cameras. But that bill did not advance.
In Prince George’s, not all patrol officers are assigned body cameras. Currently one squad of officers per police district have body cameras. State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said there are about 80 officers who have body cameras in Prince George’s department, which has more than 1,500 officers.
“We believe that the public should have that high level of transparency, but we only have what we have,” Braveboy said in an interview.
She said her office is in the process of obtaining information about the shooting and plans to “conduct a thorough investigation that is independent from the police investigation.”
“The public certainly deserves to get the full story,” Braveboy said. “Any in-custody death is problematic.”
Police experts said suspects are most commonly put in the back seat of cruisers, but some departments allow suspects to ride in front, especially if the car doesn’t have a cage separating front and back.
“It used to be you’d never put somebody in the front seat of your car,” said Philip Stinson, a professor of criminology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who studies police shootings. But some jurisdictions have decided “you put them in the front of the car because you can keep the closest eye on them.”“It used to be you’d never put somebody in the front seat of your car,” said Philip Stinson, a professor of criminology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who studies police shootings. But some jurisdictions have decided “you put them in the front of the car because you can keep the closest eye on them.”
The site of the shooting is a two-block residential street of single-family homes.
Steve Thompson, Erin Cox, Martin Weil, Alice Crites and Dan Morse contributed to this report.Steve Thompson, Erin Cox, Martin Weil, Alice Crites and Dan Morse contributed to this report.
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