Family of Man Slain by Prince George’s Police Officer Reaches $20 Million Settlement

Prince George’s County has agreed to pay the family of a man fatally shot by a police officer $20 million, believed to be one of the nation’s largest one-time settlements involving someone killed by police.

The county settled with the family of 43-year-old William Green, who authorities say was shot six times with his hands cuffed behind his back in the front seat of a police cruiser by Cpl. Michael A. Owen Jr. Owen was arrested the day after the Jan. 27 shooting and has been fired. He is awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder.

Michael Owen Jr.

The agreement was reached between the administration of Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) and longtime Baltimore-based attorney William H. “Billy” Murphy.

{snip}

The $20 million settlement is one of the biggest involving an African American killed by an on-duty officer in the United States, Murphy said.

On the evening Green was killed, police received a 911 call for a man driving a Buick who had struck several vehicles starting in Silver Hill, Md. They found Green in the car nearby in Temple Hills.

Owen got Green out of the car, cuffed Green’s hands behind his back and placed him in the cruiser to wait for a drug recognition expert, according to police records and interviews. Owen is accused of firing seven shots a few minutes later, six of which hit Green, still handcuffed in the front seat.

{snip}

Owen, who was not wearing a police-issued body camera at the time of the shooting, told authorities he had feared for his life because Green reached for his firearm. Prosecutors say there is no evidence Green posed a serious threat.

An investigation by The Post showed that the county police department’s early warning system flagged Owen for using force twice in quick succession the summer before Green’s killing. But his supervisors were not formally notified until January, The Post found, and they did not take action ahead of Green’s killing.

{snip}

Green was at least the second person killed by Owen. On Dec. 17, 2011, Owen fatally shot 35-year-old Rodney Deron Edwards after Owen saw Edwards lying in a front yard in Landover, according to police. {snip}

{snip}