On Tuesdays, trial began for the first Prince George County, Maryland, police officer to be charged with murder for actions taken on duty, the Washington Post reports. Cpl. Michael Owen Jr. is charged with fatally shooting a handcuffed man, William Green, six times while the man was in the front seat of Owen’s police cruiser. Owen was charged within 24 hours of the January 2020 incident. At question during the trial are the police investigation and whether Owen could have been justified in using force.
Joel Patterson, the chief of the State’s Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit in Prince George’s County, said officers are required to “respect the sanctity of human life” — something he argued Owen did not do when he fired his gun seven times, hitting Green with six of the shots. In his opening statement, Patterson laid out what police and prosecutors believe happened almost four years ago: Green was driving while intoxicated when his car crashed into several other vehicles then stopped at the base of a tree; witnesses to the crash found Green unconscious behind the steering wheel. They called the police. The first to arrive was Owen, followed by Cpl. Ricci Villaflor. The officers placed Green, handcuffed, into the front seat of Owen’s police cruiser. The officers suspected that the man was under the influence and had requested a drug recognition expert to determine if they were right. While they waited, the prosecution said, Owen fired.
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