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| Prince George’s officer charged in shooting of handcuffed suspect | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Prince George’s County police charged an officer with murder after he fired seven shots inside a cruiser, killing a man who was cuffed in the front seat with his hands behind his back. | |
| Police Chief Hank Stawinski announced the charges at a news conference at 6 p.m., saying after the department investigated, he concluded that a crime had occurred. Stawinski said bringing such grave charges against an officer within 24 hours of an incident is “unprecedented.” | |
| “I am unable to come to our community this evening and offer you a reasonable explanation for the events that occurred last night,” said Stawinski, who called the moment the most difficult of his tenure as police chief in the Washington suburb. “I have concluded that what happened last night is a crime.” | |
| He identified the victim as William Green, 43, of Southeast Washington. Green was killed while sitting in the passenger side of a police cruiser in the Temple Hills area. | |
| The facts Stawinski presented Tuesday night upended the narrative previously shared by police after the shooting Monday night. Police initially reported Green may have been under the influence of PCP, a hallucinogenic that has been associated with violent behavior and that there was a struggle insider the cruiser before Green’s death. | |
| Stawinski said Tuesday night that PCP does not appear to have been involved and he could not corroborate an account by one witness of a struggle in the cruiser. Green may not have been wearing a seat belt in the cruiser as intially reported either, Stawinski said. | |
| Officer Michael Owen Jr. is in custody and awaiting a bond hearing, Stawinski said. He will be charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and associated weapons charges. | |
| Owen, who joined the force around 2009, has been involved in previous department shootings, police said. | |
| Charging a police officer in an on-duty shooting is extremely rare. According to a Washington Post analysis of thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police between 2005 and 2015, only 54 officers were charged. | |
| Green’s death was not caught on a body camera, prompting an outcry from Green’s family, advocates and some county officials. | |
| “We have a lot of questions,” said John Mathis, whose mother was engaged to Green. | “We have a lot of questions,” said John Mathis, whose mother was engaged to Green. |
| 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. | 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. |
| Owen’s family did not immediately return requests for comment. | |
| “There is absolutely nothing that is acceptable about this incident,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said in the news conference. | |
| Stawinski and Alsobrooks both said in the news conference that they supported the use of body cameras. Alsobrooks said their rollout would be funded in the upcoming budget. | |
| 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. |
| Owen, the officer being charged, fatally shot a 35-year-old man in 2011 after the man threatened him with a revolver, officials at the time said. In 2009, a person tried to rob Owen outside his home in the Greenbelt area, police said. Owen was off-duty when the would-be robber shot through a hooded sweatshirt he was wearing, according to police officials. Owen, whose body was not actually hit by the gunfire, returned fire, and the would-be robber fled, according to police. | |
| For part of his career, following the shootings, Owen served as a spokesman for the department, tasked with speaking to reporters about crimes and answering their questions. | |
| . | |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. | “That wasn’t like him,” Mathis said. |
| Database of police shootings from 2019 | 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. | 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. | 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 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. | 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.” | “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.” |
| 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. | |
| Jorge Benitez-Perez, an organizer with Casa, said Green’s killing demonstrates the importance of police wearing body cameras. | |
| “There is no accountability without transparency,” he said. | |
| 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. | “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.” | 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.” | “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. | 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.” |
| 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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