Newport News Police Officer Katie Thyne, 24, and her partner arrived at the site after getting a complaint regarding possible narcotics activity. They initially removed a passenger from a questionable car in order to concentrate their notice on the driver, Vernon Green.
Officer Thyne was standing inside the open driver’s door when Green stamped on the pedal abruptly. Thyne was trapped in the door and dragged for about one block before Green smashed the car into a tree, trapping the officer’s body.
Green left the area on foot but was quickly apprehended. Officer Thyne was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital but died as a result of her wounds. Green was charged with criminal murder, as well as federal drug and firearm offenses. Yet, he refused to accept responsibility. He really pointed his finger towards his deceased victim.
Green then filed a $1.1 million lawsuit, claiming that Officer Katie Thyne used excessive force on him. According to the lawsuit, Chief Drew is legally accountable for the alleged abuse since he failed to guarantee that Thyne was properly educated.
Green stated in his odd complaint that Officer Thyne never turned on her emergency lights when she stopped him and neglected to introduce herself when she approached his vehicle. He said he just drove away as she failed to provide a reason for halting him.
Furthermore, the complaint holds Thyne responsible for her own death, stating that she leapt into the driver’s door and strangled Green when he began driving away, leading him to crash. Both Chief Drew and Thyne’s family members have studied the incident’s bodycam footage and claim that it demonstrates Green’s charges are incorrect.
Green should not have been allowed to kill Officer Thyne in the first place. Green was charged with bank robbery in North Carolina in 2004. The FBI arrested and prosecuted him over two years after the heist. But, he was soon freed on a $250,000 bail, and the matter remained in state court for more than a decade until lawyers could reach an agreement on a plea bargain.
Federal authorities contemplated charging Green only months before Katie Thyne’s murder, but decided against it. If federal authorities had charged Green, he might have sat in jail until his trial, never interacting with Officer Thyne.
Officer Katie Thyne could still be alive today if prosecutors had pursued their case against Green. Regrettably, this is becoming increasingly typical as politicians continue to push for measures that enable violent offenders to go free, such as bail reform.
A guy with a history of drug and weapon offenses as well as a pending armed robbery case was allowed to murder a young lady. Now, the same individual intends to milk the system and taxpayers for all he can in order to dodge prosecution once more.
