Woman shot by Meridian police found guilty, sentenced for hitting officer with car
An Ada County judge sentenced a woman to prison after a jury found her guilty on charges related to hitting a Meridian police officer with her car.
The case began in November 2020 when Meridian police received reports that Michele Green, then 43, of Twin Falls, may have been driving under the influence after she was seen “weaving into the median” while driving, according to court documents.
When an officer located Green at about 11 p.m. and signaled for her to pull over by turning on his lights, she sped up. Officers pursued her to a cul-de-sac near North Locust Grove Road and West Chinden Boulevard in Eagle.
Police could be seen shouting at Green to get out of her car in a body camera video played during the trial.
An officer attempted to stop her by placing spike strips under Green’s tire, but they did not work, according to court documents.
While standing in front of a police vehicle, Michael Netherton, Meridian police corporal, drew his gun and commanded Green to stop her vehicle, according to court documents. Green could then be seen in body camera footage driving in Netherton’s direction as she attempted to escape on the narrow road while boxed in by two police cars.
She appeared in the video to attempt, then fail, to drive around him. Netherton then fired his gun at Green’s vehicle, hitting her in the arm.
Green struck Netherton with her vehicle as she continued driving forward and fled the scene. Netherton later testified that he had a swollen knee and dislocated pinky finger from the collision.
Netherton got into his police vehicle and continued to pursue Green.
She drove south on Locust Grove, avoiding police maneuvers to stop her vehicle, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Near Cougar Creek, police used a spike strip to damage Green’s tires. The pursuit ended when an officer rammed Green’s vehicle near Locust Grove Road and East Loop Lane.
After a three-day trial in February, a jury convicted Green on two felony counts for assault or battery of a police officer and fleeing a police officer, as well as misdemeanors for driving under the influence and resisting arrest. They found her not guilty of using a deadly weapon — which the prosecutor had argued her car should be considered — in the commitment of a felony.
District Judge Cynthia Yee-Wallace sentenced Green on June 29 to four years fixed with 16 years indeterminate for the battery charge and three years fixed with two years indeterminate for fleeing. She will serve the sentences consecutively. For each misdemeanor, Yee-Wallace sentenced Green to 15 days in the Ada County Jail, which she has already served.
Yee-Wallace also ordered Green to pay $20,210 to the Idaho State Insurance Fund to cover her victim’s worker’s compensation and $2,500 to the city of Meridian.
Upon her release, she will have no driving privileges for three years. She must engage in counseling, medication management and psychological consultation, according to her sentencing instructions.
Green’s defense attorney argued that Netherton could have moved out of the way rather than remain in her path and shoot. He pointed to the Meridian Police Department’s manual, which says, “when feasible, officers should take reasonable steps to move out of the path of an approaching vehicle instead of discharging their firearm at the vehicle or any of its occupants.”
“An officer should only discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others,” the manual states.
Green filed an appeal with the Idaho Supreme Court on July 6.
This story was originally published August 2, 2023 at 11:26 AM.
