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Prince George's County officer charged in deadly shooting of handcuffed man inside police cruiser

By and
Updated  January 28, 2020 10:26pm EST
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 5 DC

PALMER PARK, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A Prince George's County police officer is facing a murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting of a handcuffed man inside a cruiser in Temple Hills.

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PGPD Cpl. Michael Owen has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and other related charges in the death of 43-year-old William Green, Chief Hank Stawinski announced during a Tuesday press conference. 

PGPD Cpl. Michael Owen

PGPD Cpl. Michael Owen (FOX 5 DC)

 Police say the shooting happened on Winston Street at around 7:20 p.m. on Monday after officers received reports regarding an erratic driver in the Silver Hill area who allegedly struck multiple vehicles while driving on St. Barnabas Road.

Officers located Green on Winston St. and said they smelled what they believed to be PCP coming from the vehicle.

Police told FOX 5 that they handcuffed Green behind his back and placed him in the front seat of a cruiser while they waited for a drug recognition team to come to the scene.

Chief Stawinski says Green was shot seven times while handcuffed and there is no evidence he was high on PCP and no corroborating evidence there was a struggle in the car before he was shot. 

Officials say officers attended to Green at the scene before he was taken to a local hospital where he later died. Owen was not wearing a body camera because he was not assigned one, police say.

Video obtained by FOX 5 indicates Green had been in custody for at least 30 minutes before he was shot.

Sandra Mathis, who identified herself as Green's fiancée, spoke to FOX 5's Melanie Alnwick early Tuesday at the scene. "We've got questions with no answers. We need to know what happened to William Green," she said. "His life matters. He was loved."

Cpl. Owen has been with the police department for 10 years, according to Stawinski. In December 2011, Owen was involved in another officer-involved shooting in Landover. He is currently in custody awaiting a bond hearing.