[Police Brutality\William Green]
Prince George’s County Chief of Police Henry Stawinski:“I am unable to come to our community this evening and offer you a reasonable explanation for the events that occurred last night. I have concluded that what happened last night is a crime.”
Photo: Twitter
Last night, the Prince George’s County Police Department, in Maryland, charged one of their Black officers, Corporal Michael Owen Jr., with the second-degree murder of 43-year-old William Green, also Black–who was shot to death Monday night, while he was handcuffed, and wearing a seat belt, inside a police cruiser.
The announcement was made Tuesday night by Prince George’s County Chief of Police Henry Stawinski during a press conference.
“I am unable to come to our community and offer you a reasonable explanation for the events that occurred last night,” said Chief Stanwinski. According to the New York Times, Stawinski also said, “I have concluded that what happened last night is a crime. “There are no circumstances under which this outcome is acceptable.”
Chief Stanwinski called the charging of Corporal Owen “unprecedented.”
Indeed, it is already being hinting that because Owen is a Black officer it made it easier for the Prince George’s County Police Department to charge him. The case of former Minnesota officer Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American, who was convicted last year of shooting Justine Damond, a white woman, is already drawing comparisons.
Green, a resident from the District of Columbia, was shot Monday night near the Temple Hills neighborhood. Reportedly, police were responding to a call that a truck driver had struck several cars. Green was apprehended at the scene, handcuffed and placed inside the police car before he was shot. Corporal Owen was not wearing a body-camera.
This isn’t the first time Owen has killed someone. Reportedly, Owen shot and killed Rodney Edwards in 2011. Corporal Owen was also charged with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, first-degree assault and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.
Chief Stawinski also said, “While I am confident of the evidence and the probable cause that substantiates those charges, we do not have a thorough and complete accounting of every single detail. The fundamental details, however, are the basis of the probable cause for which we’re using to place these charges this evening.”
