FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) 鈥 Five Louisiana law enforcement officers were charged Thursday with state crimes ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a death authorities initially blamed on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed white officers beating, stunning and dragging the Black motorist as he wailed, 鈥淚鈥檓 scared!鈥
These are the first criminal charges of any kind to emerge from Greene鈥檚 bloody death on a roadside in rural northeast Louisiana, a case that got little attention until an Associated Press investigation a cover-up and prompted scrutiny of top Louisiana State Police , a sweeping U.S. Justice Department of the agency and a legislative looking at what Gov. John Bel Edwards knew and when he knew it.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all excited for the indictments but are they actually going to pay for it?鈥 said Greene鈥檚 mother, Mona Hardin, who for more than three years has kept the pressure on state and federal investigators and vowed not to bury the cremated remains of her 鈥淩onnie鈥 until she gets justice. 鈥淎s happy as we are, we want something to stick.鈥
Facing the most serious charges from a state grand jury was Master Trooper Kory York, who was seen on the body-camera footage dragging Greene by his ankle shackles, putting his foot on his back to force him down and leaving the heavyset man face down in the dirt for more than nine minutes. Use-of-force experts say these actions could have dangerously restricted Greene鈥檚 breathing, and the state police鈥檚 own force instructor called the troopers鈥 actions 鈥渢orture and murder.鈥 York was charged with negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office.
The others who faced various counts of malfeasance and obstruction included a trooper who denied the existence of his body-camera footage, another who exaggerated Greene鈥檚 resistance on the scene, a regional state police commander who detectives say pressured them not to make an arrest in the case and a Union Parish sheriff鈥檚 deputy heard on the video taunting Greene with the words 鈥渟鈥- hurts, doesn鈥檛 it?鈥
鈥淭hese actions are inexcusable and have no place in professional public safety services,鈥 the head of the state police, Col. Lamar Davis, said after the indictments, adding that his agency has in recent years made improvements aimed at 鈥渞ebuilding of trust within the communities we serve.鈥
Union Parish District Attorney John Belton submitted arrest warrants for all five of the officers, praising the racially mixed grand jury for hearing the evidence and saying the people had spoken.
Belton had long held off on pursuing state charges at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, which is conducting a separate criminal investigation. But as years passed and federal prosecutors grew increasingly skeptical they could prove the officers acted 鈥渨illfully鈥 鈥 a key component of the civil rights charges they鈥檝e been considering 鈥 they gave Belton the go-ahead this spring to convene a state grand jury.
That since last month considered detailed evidence and testimony related to the troopers鈥 use of force and their decision to leave the handcuffed Greene prone for several minutes before rendering aid. And for the first time in the case, a medical expert deemed Greene鈥檚 death a homicide.
The federal grand jury investigation, which expanded last year to examine whether state police brass obstructed justice to protect the troopers, remains open, and prosecutors have been tight-lipped about when the panel could make a decision on charges.
Greene鈥檚 May 10, 2019, death was shrouded in secrecy from the , when authorities told grieving relatives that the 49-year-old died in a car crash at the end of a high-speed chase near Monroe 鈥 an account questioned by both his family and even an emergency room doctor who noted Greene鈥檚 battered body. Still, a coroner鈥檚 report listed Greene鈥檚 cause of death as a motor vehicle accident, a state police crash report omitted any mention of troopers using force and 462 days would pass before state police began an internal probe.
All the while, the body-camera video remained so secret it was withheld from Greene鈥檚 initial autopsy and officials from Edwards on down declined repeated requests to release it, citing ongoing investigations.
But then last year, the AP obtained and published the footage, which showed what really happened: Troopers swarming Greene鈥檚 car, stunning him repeatedly, punching him in the head, dragging him by the shackles and leaving him prone on the ground for more than nine minutes. At times, Greene could be heard pleading for mercy and wailing, 鈥淚鈥檓 your brother! I鈥檓 scared! I鈥檓 scared!鈥
At one point, York orders Greene to 鈥渓ay on your f------ belly like I told you to!鈥 Union Parish Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Harpin can be heard taunting, 鈥淵eah, yeah, that s--- hurts, doesn鈥檛 it?鈥
Attorneys for York and Harpin said both expect to be found not guilty at trial if the charges aren't dismissed first. Reached by phone, former Trooper Dakota DeMoss, whose body-camera captured much of the arrest, declined to comment, saying 鈥測ou guys always get it wrong.鈥 Lt. John Clary鈥檚 attorney did not respond to a request for comment in the courthouse. Former state police Capt. John Peters declined to comment.
Fallout brought federal scrutiny not just to the troopers but to whether top brass obstructed justice to protect them.
Investigators have focused on a meeting in which detectives say that state police commanders them to hold off on arresting a trooper seen on body-camera video striking Greene in the head and later boasting, 鈥淚 beat the ever-living f--- out of him.鈥 That trooper, Chris , was widely seen as the most culpable of the half-dozen officers involved, but he died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020 just hours after he was informed he would be fired over his role in Greene鈥檚 arrest.
The AP later found that Greene鈥檚 arrest was among at least a over the past decade in which state police troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings of mostly Black men, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct. Dozens of current and former troopers said the beatings were countenanced by a culture of impunity, nepotism and, in some cases, racism.
Such reports were cited by the U.S. Justice Department this year in launching a sweeping civil rights investigation into the Louisiana State Police, the first of a statewide law enforcement agency in more than two decades.
Scrutiny has also turned to the actions of the Democratic governor, who oversees the state police.
A legislative panel launched an into the state鈥檚 handling of the Greene case this year after AP reported that Edwards had been informed within hours that the troopers arresting Greene engaged in a 鈥渧iolent, lengthy struggle,鈥 yet stayed mostly for two years as police continued to press the car crash theory.
Another AP report found Edwards a key body-camera video of Greene鈥檚 deadly arrest six months before state prosecutors say they knew it even existed, and neither the governor, his staff nor the state police acted urgently to get the footage into the hands of those with the power to bring charges.
Edwards has repeatedly said he did nothing to influence or hinder the Greene investigation and has described the troopers鈥 actions as both criminal and . But he has yet to testify before the legislative panel, saying he was unable to appear at a hearing last month, instead attending a groundbreaking ceremony for an infrastructure project.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 decision is a long overdue first step toward justice for Ronald Greene鈥檚 family and accountability for a broken police system,鈥 said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. 鈥淩onald Greene should be alive today.鈥
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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.
