A Punta Gorda police officer and his chief are facing criminal charges in the shooting death last August of 73-year-old Mary Knowlton. On Wednesday, the state attorney filed a manslaughter charge against Officer Lee Coel. At the time, Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis admitted Coel shot and killed Knowlton during a citizen’s police demonstration and affirmed the killing was an accident. The state attorney is charging the police chief for culpability in Knowlton’s death. In November, the city of Punta Gorda awarded the woman’s survivors a two-million-dollar settlement.
