A Maryland county has reached a $20 million settlement with the family of an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot by a police corporal while he was handcuffed in a patrol car in January, officials said on Monday. The figure, announced on Sunday, makes it among the largest settlements in a case involving a killing by a police officer.
“There is no appropriate price tag to accompany a loss like that one, but we believe the actions taken that night against Mr. Green and ultimately taken against his family warrant this settlement,” Angela D. Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George’s County, said at a news conference.
Ms. Alsobrooks, a former prosecutor, noted that the police are “given by this community an awesome and tremendously difficult responsibility of protecting life.”
“And when that trust is abused, it is necessary to take swift and decisive action,” she added.
The corporal, Michael Owen Jr., a 10-year veteran of the Prince George’s Police Department, shot the man, William H. Green, 43, multiple times on Jan. 27, while Mr. Green’s hands were handcuffed behind his back and as he sat in the front seat of a parked police cruiser, officials said.
Officials said Corporal Owen, who is Black, fired seven shots from inside his patrol car, six of which struck Mr. Green, killing him.
Mr. Green, a father of two who worked for Megabus, had been pulled over and handcuffed because he was suspected of driving under the influence after hitting several cars, the police chief said at the time.
Corporal Owen was waiting for another officer to arrive to evaluate Mr. Green for drugs when he opened fire.
An initial police account suggested that a struggle preceded the shooting. But after a review of what occurred, investigators concluded that there was “no plausible explanation for how Mr. Green could have attempted to control the gun” of the corporal, Ms. Alsobrooks said.
Within 24 hours of the killing, police officers charged Corporal Owen with second-degree murder. It was the first time a county police officer had faced a murder charge for killing someone in the line of duty, Ms. Alsobrooks said.
Corporal Owen, who remains suspended without pay, was also charged with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, first-degree assault and use of a firearm to commit a violent crime.
“I determined that he should not be treated any differently than any other individual who had just shot someone multiple times with no justification, as there are not two systems of justice,” Ms. Alsobrooks said.
The county has been in mediation for the past few months with the Green family and its lawyers. The separate criminal proceedings involving Corporal Owen are continuing, Ms. Alsobrooks said. Corporal Owen was in jail awaiting trial as of Monday afternoon, according to the county. His lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment, but he told The Washington Post that criminal charges against Corporal Owen were based on “unsubstantiated or discounted facts and hastily misguided assumptions.”
William H. Murphy Jr., one of the family lawyers, said the settlement reflected the “heinous nature, the brutal nature, the senseless nature of what happened to Mr. Green.” He said that while some might question the settlement sum, it most likely would cost the county less than going to trial, while also freeing the family from having to wait for years for a resolution.
Malcolm P. Ruff, another family lawyer, said the settlement should be interpreted as a message that “unlawful police violence against unarmed Black men should not go without a severe penalty and that our communities will no longer stand for this.”
At the news conference, Mr. Green’s 21-year-old daughter, Shelly Green, lamented the loss of her father, whom she called the “glue” that held the family together.
“He was always there,” she said. “Now I’m left alone without him to figure out my life.”
In 2011, the department placed Corporal Owen, who was an officer at the time, on administrative leave after he shot and killed a Black man from Landover, Md., who the police said had pointed a gun at him. The police said he had pulled over to the side of the road to check on the man, who was in the grass.
In June, Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski stepped down after the American Civil Liberties Union published an extensive report documenting the ways that Black and brown police officers were discriminated against by the department. In response to the report, the county also created a task force to revisit other aspects of policing, such as use of force.
As part of the settlement, the Green family will be invited to address the Police Reform Work Group, which is helping guide the search for a new police chief, according to the county.
The $20 million settlement figure is not without precedent in a case involving police misconduct. Last year, for example, the city of Minneapolis offered $20 million to the family of an unarmed Australian woman who was killed by police after calling 911 to report what she believed were the sounds of a woman being attacked. But the figure still makes it the largest in Maryland history and the third largest in the country, according Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, the law firm representing the Green family.