Jessica Schladebeck
New York Daily News
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — A 2011 officer-involved shooting previously ruled justifiable was under review Thursday morning after the same Prince George’s County police corporal fatally shot a handcuffed man inside his cruiser earlier this week.
Cpl. Michael Owen Jr. was ordered held without bond Wednesday on second-degree murder charges in the death of William Howard Green. The 43-year-old Washington D.C. man was handcuffed inside the officer’s police cruiser when he was shot seven times Monday night in the Temple Hills area.
Authorities initially said there were witness reports of a struggle inside the vehicle, but court documents obtained by the Washington Post said there was no evidence to corroborate those accounts.
Owen’s attorney, Jonathan Scruggs, requested his client be released before trial, arguing that he was not just someone “off the street” but rather a member of law enforcement doing his duty.
In the end, Prince George’s County District Judge Robert Heffron Jr. agreed Owen was a “danger to the community” and ordered that he remain behind bars.
During his 10 years on the police force, Owen has been involved in two previous shootings – including a fatal one in 2011 that claimed the life of 35-year-old Rodney Edwards.
Owen told investigators at the time that he was on his way from the department’s annual “Toys for Tots” event when he pulled over to help a man he saw lying on the side of the road, WTOP reported. He’d been in uniform but was driving an unmarked van that night.
When Owen approached the man, later identified as Edwards, he allegedly pulled a gun on him, prompting the officer to pull out and fire his own weapon.
A loaded revolver was found on the scene, police said at the time.
An attorney has been assigned to review the case in wake of Monday’s shooting.