William Green was shot and killed by a police officer while in handcuffs in a police cruiser in Temple Hills, MD on Jan. 27, 2020. (Courtesy Photo)

Submitted by: Nikki Owens,
Cousin of William Green, murdered by police on January 27, 2020 in Prince George’s County, Maryland

There is not a day since January 28, 2020 that I haven’t thought about how my cousin was murdered. Not a day has passed that I haven’t thought about the loss of someone I loved and who loved me. Not a day has passed that I haven’t wanted to cry knowing he died mercilessly and at the hands of someone whose employment his tax dollars paid for.

I think about what his last thoughts must have been. The fear he suffered knowing he was dying and leaving his kids fatherless. I think about the pain he must have felt when those six bullets entered his body. How powerless he felt. He didn’t die quickly, so I think of how he suffered. He was executed. He complied and they still killed him.

On the evening of January 27, 2020, William Green was murdered by Prince George’s County Police Captain Michael Owen. I saw the story on the evening news, but the victim was not identified. In the early morning hours of January 28th , I received a phone call that changed my world.

Boo Boo is dead. The pain I felt hearing those words is indescribable. The pain I feel now, over a year later, writing these words is indescribable. I looked at my phone to see if he had sent his daily good morning text with emojis, there was nothing. My cousin, who was a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, an uncle, a friend to so many, was gone. Hundreds of us are left behind to live our new normal, our life without Boo Boo. This pain is not only my pain, this is the pain of many Prince George’s County residents and their families.

The killing of this one man caused pain to hundreds, affected thousands. We must remember that it’s not just one person whose life is changed forever. It’s the people who are left behind who have their whole lives changed as well. We are the new, living victims of police brutality. We are left behind to deal with the devastation.

According to the Citizen Complaint Oversight Paneil in Prince George’s County, there were 598 allegations of misconduct reported in 2016, 489 reported in 2017, 411 reported in 2018, and 495 reported in 2019.  This means that there are thousands of family members and loved ones victimized due to police brutality and excessive force, and I join them in the struggle for police reform. Together, we demand change to a broken policing and judicial system that has for too long chosen to watch us suffer without justice.

I think of the story of Kevin Sneed. Prince George’s Officers William Bankhead and William Winds punched and threw Kevin Sneed out of a vehicle, and then as he laid on the ground handcuffed, multiple officers continued to kick and punch him. Mr. Sneed continues to suffer with PTSD due to this traumatic incident in his life.

Owen, the officer who killed my cousin, has been able to terrorize and kill citizens of Prince George’s County while being rewarded and receiving worker’s compensation payments for psychological stress for the majority of his years of service. Owen also had a history of failing to appear in court that surprisingly was not addressed by his commanding officers.

As we all watch Black and Brown people being beaten and murdered on video, on the news, daily throughout the US, this seems to go unnoticed by legislators and people in positions of power within our state and local governments. This seems to be acceptable as “the norm” by the people in positions to stop these traumatizing abuses.

The Prince George’s County police department is currently a poorly managed agency full of corruption, cover-ups, and racism. As I watched my cousin murdered on camera, I was sickened knowing that elected officials and community “leaders” are more interested in silencing and appeasing, not changing and improving.

I am asking you to read the story of William Green, to understand that the deliberate actions taken by Michael Owen that day were due to a system driven by unaccountability and corruption. We must pass laws that will ensure real change to the system. We need LEOBR repealed. We need a heightened statewide use of force standard. We need to make investigations into police misconduct transparent. And we need to ensure that Interim Chief Hector Velez is removed, not promoted, due to the allegations of systemic racism inside the department while he served under the now resigned Chief Stawinski.

Please remember his name. William “Boo Boo” Green.