SMYRNA, Ga. — At a fiery rally and vigil for slain unarmed black man Nicholas Thomas, one of the demonstrators exclaimed that, since the police and media have assassinated the character of the shooting victim, more needs to be known about the officer who pulled the trigger.
It turns out that we do know more.
The officer who turned the car Thomas was in into Swiss cheese has a record for violence and eventually resigned from the Cobb Police Department as a result of it. This is the same department that is now investigating Owens and the circumstances surrounding him killing Thomas in a Maserati at a Goodyear store in suburban Atlanta.
Kenneth Owens is the sergeant who fatally shot a 23-year-old man at the Goodyear tire shop just outside Smyrna, in Vinings. According to Cobb County Police, he was arrested after a domestic incident with his wife 15 years ago.
Owens and a reported five other officers from both Cobb and Smyrna police departments were serving an arrest warrant out of Clayton County on Thomas outside of Goodyear when police claim he drove a Maserati towards them.
Owens has a record for two domestic violence incidents involving his wife, including one arrest in 1998 and ’99.
The first time, she reported he got angry and broke several items around their house. The second time around, this one March 1999, he was arrested after throwing a boot at her.
In the police report from that incident he told police, “I kicked in the bedroom door and used a fireplace poker to knock items off the entertainment center. I also punched a mirror and broke it.”
Owens was initially charged with simple battery, but later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
Owens subsequently resigned from the Cobb County Police department and his police certification was put on probation for a period of two years. After the probationary period, Owens was hired by Smyrna Police.
Photo: Terry Shropshire
