Five Louisiana Police Officers Charged Over Fatal 2019 Arrest of Motorist Ronald Greene
Body Cam Footage of Ronald Greene’s arrest
Greene was killed while being arrested during a traffic stop; however, police had originally claimed he died due to a car crash.Five Louisiana law enforcement officers have been charged by a state grand jury for their actions during the 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, who died while being taken into police custody.Troopers Kory York, Dakota DeMoss and Lieutenant John Clary, along with police Captain John Peters, and Union Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Harpin have been charged with multiple crimes including negligent homicide, malfeasance in office and obstruction of justice.Another trooper involved in the incident, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a single-car crash hours after being informed he was going to be fired for to his actions during the fatal Greene arrest.The charges come after a three-year battle by Greene’s family to get justice and obtain answers about what exactly happened during Greene’s interaction with law enforcement officials. Greene’s family was initially informed he died in a car crash after fleeing from police but relatives doubted the account after the emergency physician noted his body showed signs of being beaten. However, the coroner’s report still listed a “motor vehicle accident” as the cause of death.Specifics of the police interaction were not made public until after the Associated Press acquired and published body-cam footage of Greene’s arrest. The recording ultimately revealed that not only was Greene alive when police pulled him from his car, but that they also proceeded to beat, choke, stun, and drag him while he was handcuffed.
Louisiana State Police Under Federal Investigation for ‘Discriminatory Policing’ of Black Residents10 June, 04:17 GMTThose actions, along with York stepping on his back and leaving Greene facedown in the dirt for over nine minutes were deemed “torture and murder” by Louisiana’s state police force instructor. Other use of force experts said the actions could have restricted Greene’s breathing, contributing to his death.A later autopsy, funded by Greene’s family, noted Greene had significant injuries to his face and skull. In fact, Greene can be heard in body-cam footage asking for mercy from the officers, apologizing, and saying “I’m scared.”Officers can also be heard taunting Greene in the video during his arrest, with Harpin being heard saying “S**t hurts, doesn’t it?” after deploying a stun gun on the already subdued man.Greene was Black, all officers involved in the arrest were white.The most serious charges in the indictment are against York, who was charged with negligent homicide and ten counts of malfeasance in office. DeMoss, who denied the existence of his body-cam footage, and Peters who has been accused of pressuring detectives not to make an arrest in the case, have been charged with obstruction of justice.Harpin is being charged with six counts of malfeasance in office, and Clary is being charged with one count of malfeasance in office and one count of obstruction of justice.The ACLU of Louisiana’s Executive Director Alanah Odoms praised the indictment as a “long overdue first step towards justice for Ronald Greene’s family,” but also criticized it for not charging the other officers with homicide.“While we recognize the importance of some criminal charges being filed, those announced today are insufficient. Each and every State Trooper brought before the grand jury should have been charged for the death of Ronald Greene,” Odoms said in a statement.The arrest and subsequent cover-up is also the subject of a federal Justice Department investigation, though officials have been tight-lipped on its progress.The body-cam footage was withheld from medical examiners performing Greene’s initial autopsy and state officials, including Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, refused to release it for more than a year, citing ongoing investigations.But the AP release of the video showed that the officers’ actions did not line up with their accounts.Later reports would reveal Edwards had been informed hours after it occurred that police and Greene were involved in a “violent, lengthy struggle” but he allowed police to continue making the car crash claim.Another report revealed Edwards saw a key portion of the body-cam footage six months before state attorneys say they knew of its existence – yet the governor and his staff did not give the video to officials who could have charged the officers.C. Denise Marcelle, a Democrat state lawmaker who is serving on a special committee investigating Greene’s death, stated she will not be satisfied if the charges stop with the five surviving officers.“I don’t want to stop at the five,” Marcelle said at the news conference. “I want us to get to the root of everybody who played a part in this cover-up. We’ve got to dive into this thing and clean house.”