Authorities in Florida said a 51-year-old father fatally stabbed his daughter while she was trying to break up a fight between him and her boyfriend. According to ABC Action News, Laurence Green was armed with a knife when he got into a fight with his daughter Sidney Green’s boyfriend, police said.
The 22-year-old was stabbed while she tried to get in between the two, police added. But in an interview from the Pinellas County Jail after his arrest and booking, Green said he did not intend to stab his daughter.
“It wasn’t meant for her. Like I said she jumped in the way and it wasn’t meant for her,” Green said.
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Green, who has since been charged with manslaughter, said he was at the Bay Cove apartments on Monday to get some clothes when he met his daughter and her on-again-off-again boyfriend in the home.
“I said, ‘you got three minutes to get him out of the house’ and she wouldn’t get him out of the house,” Green recalled.
The argument was later taken to the parking lot where the fatal incident occurred. But Clearwater Police Major Natalia Illich-Hailey indicated that preliminary reports have established that Green was acting in self-defense, ABC Action News reported.
“He at the time was defending himself from the boyfriend because he was being hit in the head by the boyfriend. He intended to stab the boyfriend to get him off of him and that is when his daughter intervened between the two of them,” Major Illich-Hailey said.
Sidney sustained a stab wound to the stomach, and she was taken to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. “Sidney was a light. She can make everyone smile and make everyone happy. I want people to remember that about her. Regardless of what happened, I want people to remember that about her that she was a good person,” Green said.
Green’s manslaughter charge has reportedly been questioned by a section of people on social media. But law professor Pamella Seay told the news outlet that even if Green’s intention wasn’t to stab his daughter, he still wanted to attack her boyfriend – hence the manslaughter charge.
Seay, however, hinted authorities could drop the manslaughter charge as well as other possible charges against Green.
“I foresee a lot of changes coming through whether it will remain as the manslaughter of his daughter or if it changes to attempted murder of her boyfriend, that’s a possibility,” Seay said, adding that eyewitness testimonies from the fatal stabbing will be crucial in deciding if Green’s charges would change.
The 51-year-old father is said to have frequently shared Facebook posts about Sidney as well as his other daughters, the Tampa Bay Times reported. In a February 19 birthday post to Sidney, Green wrote: “For the last 22 years of my life you have been my energy, my fire, my challenge, my anger, my resolve, my heart, my fury, my love, my baby girl, my daughter.”
Sidney replied saying she loved Green.
