In their lawsuit, Mr. Greene’s relatives said that the State Police told them that Mr. Greene died after his car struck a tree [and he had been flung through the windshield], but that the police did not mention a struggle with troopers.
The front of Mr. Greene’s car did not strike anything and his airbag did not deploy, the lawsuit said. Mr. Greene got out of the car uninjured and could “walk, speak and otherwise function in a healthy manner” after the crash, according to the lawsuit.
As more troopers arrived at the scene, Mr. Greene apologized for leading the chase, according to the lawsuit. Two troopers pinned him down and “individually and in concert used lethal force against Greene,” including shocking him three times with a Taser as he begged them to stop (Fazio 3).
CNN previously reported that Greene died after struggling with law enforcement following a pursuit that ended in a crash on May 10, 2019, according to a preliminary report from the criminal investigations division of the Louisiana State Patrol (LSP).
In the video, an officer approaches Greene's vehicle with a weapon drawn and says, "Let me see your f**king hands m*therf**ker."
Greene's car door is opened and you can hear a Taser going off. Greene can be heard saying, "OK, OK. I'm sorry. I'm scared. Officer, I'm scared, I'm your brother, I'm scared," as it appears he is being taken out of the vehicle.
Another video clip, obtained by the AP, shows officers forcing Greene onto the ground. An officer says, "Taser, Taser," and Greene can be heard screaming.
After being tased, Greene can be heard moaning while still on the ground and being put in handcuffs by one officer, while another officer kicks him several times. An officer can be heard saying, "I've got blood all over me, I hope this guy ain't got f**king AIDS," as Greene continues to moan.
The Associated Press reports that Greene is left lying face down moaning for more than nine minutes while officers used sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their hands and faces. This is not in any of the video segments the AP has posted online (Lynch 1).
Four Louisiana state troopers were arrested on Monday on charges that they used excessive force and deactivated their body cameras during arrests, the authorities said.
Louisiana State Police investigators filed the charges on Monday against the troopers, who patrol Monroe, a city in the northern part of the state, as well as surrounding parishes. The troopers — identified as Dakota DeMoss, 28; George Harper, 26; Randall Dickerson, 34; and Jacob Brown, 30 — will remain on administrative leave, the agency said in a statement.
The charges arose from encounters in July 2019 and May 2020, the statement said.
…
The four men belonged to Troop F, which has had some of its members placed under scrutiny in a separate federal civil rights investigation involving the death of Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old Black man, after a high-speed police chase on May 10, 2019.
…
John F.K. Belton, the district attorney for the Third Judicial District in Louisiana, which covers Lincoln and Union Parishes, said in an interview on Tuesday that Trooper DeMoss was one of the officers involved in the Greene case, but that he could not specify to what extent. “There were two involved, and several on the scene thereafter,” he said.
On Monday, after the announcement that the four members of Troop F had been arrested, the N.A.A.C.P. said that leaked body-camera audio from the Greene encounter captured one of the troopers from Troop F saying he beat and choked Mr. Greene after the pursuit (Hauser 2).
Greene, a barber, failed to pull over for an unspecified traffic violation shortly after midnight on May 10, 2019, about 30 miles south of the Arkansas state line. That’s where the video obtained by AP begins, with Trooper Dakota DeMoss chasing Greene’s SUV on rural highways at over 115 mph.
Seconds before the chase ended, DeMoss warned on his radio: “We got to do something. He’s going to kill somebody.”
As DeMoss and Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth rush Greene’s SUV, he can be seen appearing to raise his hands and saying over and over, “OK, OK. I’m sorry."
Hollingsworth shocks Greene with a stun gun within seconds through the driver’s side window as both troopers demand he get out of the vehicle.
Greene exits through the passenger side as the troopers wrestle him to the ground. One trooper can be heard saying “He’s grabbing me” as they try to handcuff him. “Put your hands behind your back, bitch,” one trooper says.
Hollingsworth strikes Greene multiple times and appears to lie on one of his arms before he is finally handcuffed.
At one point, Trooper Kory York yanks Greene’s leg shackles and briefly drags the man on his stomach even though he isn’t resisting.
York was suspended without pay for 50 hours for the dragging and for improperly deactivating his body camera. York told investigators the device was beeping loudly and his “mind was on other things.”
Hollingsworth, in a separate recording obtained by AP, can be heard telling a colleague at the office that “he beat the ever-living f--- out of” Greene.
“Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control,” Hollingsworth is heard saying. “He was spitting blood everywhere, and all of a sudden he just went limp.”
Hollingsworth later died in a single-vehicle highway crash that happened hours after he learned he would be fired for his role in the Greene case.
DeMoss, meanwhile, was arrested in connection with a separate police pursuit last year in which he and two other troopers allegedly used excessive force while handcuffing a motorist.
Exactly what caused Greene’s death remains unclear. Union Parish Coroner Renee Smith told AP last year his death was ruled accidental and attributed to cardiac arrest. Smith, who was not in office when that determination was made, said her office’s file on Greene attributed his death to a car crash and made no mention of a struggle with State Police.
The AP last year also obtained a medical report showing an emergency room doctor noted Greene arrived dead at the hospital, bruised and bloodied with two stun-gun prongs in his back. That led the doctor to question troopers’ initial account that Greene had “died on impact” after crashing into a tree.
“Does not add up,” the doctor wrote (Mustian “Scared” 1-2).
A State Police crash report obtained by AP omits any reference to troopers using force — or even arresting Greene — but notes that he was not wearing a seat belt in the crash. State Police later acknowledged there was a “struggle” with troopers who were trying to arrest him.
Greene’s family has a filed a federal wrongful-death suit alleging troopers “brutalized” him, shocked him three times with a stun gun and left him “beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest.”
Last month, they disputed the car crash narrative by releasing graphic photos of Greene’s body that appeared to show deep bruises on his face and cuts on his scalp, as well as photos of the SUV he was driving showing it with only minor damage.
Greene, a barber who had lived for years in central Florida, was not known to be wanted on any charges at the time of the police chase. He had a criminal record in Florida that included arrests ranging from theft to drug possession. Court records show he served more than a year in prison following a 2015 conviction for burglary and grand theft (Mustian “Beat” 2).
[The ACLU released this statement after the body cam footage was posted]
“Nearly two years after Ronald Greene’s death, we now know what Louisiana State Police were trying to hide: Ronald Greene was tortured to death by officers who denied him life-saving aide for more than nine minutes. What we are witnessing on this video is a brutal killing - a killing that was committed by cops but also condoned by our laws, perpetuated by white supremacy, and encouraged by a culture of impunity and violence.
Mona Hardin, Ronald Greene’s mother urges, ‘This was a premeditated taking of Ronnie’s life.’ Moreover, ‘what state police leadership have referred to as ‘awful but lawful’ is nothing more than corruption and an unjustifiable murder.’
Once again, we have proof that another unarmed Black man has been brutally killed by cops – we are deeply sympathetic to his family who have to watch this horrific video and grieve their loved one because of the actions of police officers who still have not been held accountable. The fact that Ronald Greene’s family had to wait two years after his death for this footage to be released to the public is an unacceptable miscarriage of justice that needs to be addressed now.
Louisiana State Police, despite having a long history of excessive force and civil rights violations, are often charged with investigating allegations of excessive force and misconduct by local police departments.
These interactions are not new. The systemic targeting of and use of excessive force against people of color is woven into the fabric of our law enforcement institutions and stems from the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in this country. Nothing will change about policing until everything changes about policing. Not only must the officers responsible for this atrocity be held accountable, but our entire system of policing also needs to be reimagined. A system that produces such extreme levels of violence and brutality cannot be reformed – it must be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.
There is no alternate path toward justice” (Hunter 2).
[Paste the following on Google to watch the You Tube WWLTV produced video of Greene’s arrest and brutalization]
Deadly arrest of Ronald Greene by Louisiana State Police
Works cited:
Fazio, Marie. “F.B.I. Investigates Louisiana Man’s Death after Police Chase.” The New York Times, updated May 19, 2021. Net. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/us/ronald-greene-louisiana-police.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Hauser, Christine. “4 Louisiana Troopers Arrested on Charges of Using Excessive Force.” The New York Times, updated May 19, 2021. Net. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/us/louisiana-troopers-charged-false-arrests-excessive-force.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Hunter, Scottie. “THE INVESTIGATORS: LSP Calls Release of Body Camera Video in Ronald Greene ase ‘Premature’.” WAFB9, May 19, 2021. Net. https://www.wafb.com/2021/05/19/investigators-lsp-calls-release-body-camera-video-ronald-greene-case-premature/
Lynch, Jamiel. “Body Camera Shows Black Man Being tased, Kicked and Dragged by Louisiana Troopers before His Death.” CNN, updated May 19, 2021. Net. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/19/us/ronald-greene-video-louisiana-police-death/index.html
Mustian, Jim. “'I Beat the Ever-Living F--- Out of Him' - Trooper's Mic Records Talk of Beating, Choking Black Man.” 4WWL, October 1, 2020. Net. https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/louisiana-state-troopers-mic-records-talk-of-beating-choking-black-man/289-4b494a6d-78b2-40db-8dd0-b92f2d367dd4
Mustian, Jim.”'I'm Scared': Video Shows Deadly Arrest by Louisiana State Police.” 4WWL, May 19, 2021. Net. https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/crime/video-shows-deadly-arrest-of-ronald-greene-by-louisiana-state-police/289-af6224ab-e8a2-451c-b52f-a862325ab4df
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