William Howard Green was shot to death while handcuffed in the front seat of a police car on January 27, according to WUSA9. The 43-year-old Maryland resident had fallen asleep in his car after crashing it when he was arrested by Prince George’s County police officer Michael Owen Jr.

Owen Jr. fired seven shots at Green, killing him. 

The case caused immediate outrage and in March, Owen Jr. was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, use of a handgun and misconduct in office. 

Standing by for an update from the Prince George’s County States Attorney’s office on PGPD Cpl. Michael Owen. Police charged him with murdering William Green. Police say Owen shot Green, handcuffed in the front seat of a patrol car after a January 27th traffic stop. @wusa9
pic.twitter.com/VOzlQbP0NY

— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) March 5, 2020

"There are no circumstances under which this outcome was acceptable," Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski said at a press conference in March.

Breonna Taylor was a beloved EMT in Louisville who spent weeks on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic before she was shot to death in her home by three officers, as Blavity previously reported.

“She was a better version of me. Full of life. Easy to love," her mother Tamika Palmer told the New York Times. 

For more than 100 days, her case has sparked global protests, boycotts and outrage. The slow response from city and state officials has only made the calls for justice louder from activists, family members, global stars, presidential candidates and the world's biggest athletes.  

Millions are waiting to hear the results of two investigations done by the FBI and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. 

Tommie Dale McGlothen was punched, tased and beaten with a baton during an arrest on April 5 and later died from his injuries, the AP reported. 

KSLA obtained a video of the arrest, releasing a gruesome 4-minute clip showing four officers attack McGlothen as bystanders watched. 

Despite the video and ensuing outrage over the brutality, as of June, all the officers involved are still on the job and have not been put on administrative leave.

Milwaukee Police Department Officer Michael Mattioli was charged with first-degree reckless homicide on May 13 after choking 25-year-old Joel Acevedo to death at a party.

"It has been the hardest thing they’ve ever had to go through and that losing Joel has left a void that can never be filled. Joel was a young man full of life whose laugh was contagious. Joel had a smile that would light up a room and a positive energy that would attract others to him. He always saw the best in people and loved everyone with his whole heart,” the family's lawyer said in a statement to CBS58.

The city's autopsy determined that the off-duty cop choked Acevedo to death and in the 911 call, you can hear Acevedo say, "I swear I'll go home. I swear." 

When police arrived, they found Acevedo unconscious while Mattioli sat on his chest. 

“I didn’t suffocate the guy. I had my arms around his neck yes, and I held him there but I didn’t suffocate the guy, I didn’t press hard enough. I didn’t squeeze as hard as I could because I know, I’m not stupid. I know what it is you know…I know what’s deadly force and what’s not, but I held him there to make sure he didn’t get away… until the… you guys showed up… look, I wasn’t holding him to make his air cut off you know I’m not stupid," he told officers according to the bodycam footage. 

Mattioli is facing at least 60 years in prison if convicted. 

"We are not sure if we will ever get over this great loss. However, we are grateful that Joel will live on, not only in our memories, but literally in another. Joel was an organ donor, and his heart now beats and is giving the gift of life to another," his family said. 

The killing of George Floyd by four officers sparked outrage where thousands of people across the world protested police brutality and racism. People are still out in the streets in dozens of cities demonstrating under Floyd's name. 

Floyd was a father and a friend before being violently restrained on video that quickly spread across dozens of social media sites, as Blavity previously reported. Along with Taylor's death, Floyd's death prompted a national conversation on race in America that is still going on. 

The four officers involved in the killing have been fired and are each facing a variety of charges related to Floyd's death. 

Just a few weeks ago, 60-year-old Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis was shot during a traffic stop, according to the AP. The stop was over a burned-out tail light and Lewis got scared and fled. 

“Mr. Lewis never got out of the vehicle and the investigation will show that, mere seconds after the crash, he was shot to death, shot in the face and killed,” the family's attorney Francys Johnson said.

Through the lawyer, his wife Betty Lewis told the AP that Lewis worked as a carpenter and recently helped a local church on a construction project.

"`He was too good to die the way he did,’” Johnson said Lewis told him.

Jacob Gordon Thompson, the 27-year-old officer at the center of the case, was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault on August 14.

“No one should have to bury a loved one simply because of a busted tail light. This was a case of racial profiling. We are not necessarily happy right now. Yes, the man was arrested, but we’re done dying,” president of the Georgia NAACP Reverend James Woodall said.

Damian Lamar Daniels was in the middle of a mental health crisis and in need of help when police were called to his home in San Antonio on August 25, according to KENS5.

The 30-year-old sat with an officer for 30 minutes and spoke about how a number of his family members had recently died and that he was a combat veteran.

He was struggling with suicidal thoughts, and officers said they attempted to get mental health but never went to get it.

A fight broke out and Daniels was shot twice. Little information about the shooting or the officers behind it has been released. 

After the shooting of Michael Brown, The Washington Post set up a system to track every police shooting in the United States, finding that officers generally shoot and kill about 1,000 people each year.

Since 2015, about 5,600 people have been killed by the police, as Blavity previously reported. More than 1,200 Black men and 48 Black women have been killed by the police over the last five years, both of which represent the highest rates of death in each gender of any race. 

While the shootings and killings have continued even through the coronavirus pandemic, the protests this summer have energized many Black Americans and reignited a hope that the country may no longer tolerate killings at the hands of police.

NPR surveyed hundreds of Black Americans to ask about their feelings about the Black Lives Matter movement and police killings. While many respondents cautioned against blind optimism, others said the size of the current movement was a signal that there may be small changes ahead. 

"This isn't going to be fixed overnight, but I'm optimistic that young folks and the older folks like myself who support them understand and accept that it's going to take some time. And the change is going to come, and we're committed to seeing that change," Wisconsin resident Roy Divine told NPR after the shooting of Jacob Blake. 

"I'm positive that a change is going to come. I do believe that this younger generation, folks that are my kids' age and younger, they get it," Divine added.