Video of a 2019 arrest shows the violent moments that led up to the death of Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old black man in Louisiana, was leaked to the public on Wednesday.
The footage, obtained and published by the Associated Press, shows the police-involved incident that is the subject of a wrongful-death lawsuit by Greene’s family as well as federal and state investigations.
After a high-speed chase on May 10, 2019, outside Monroe, Louisiana, Greene was pulled out of his car by state troopers and jolted with a stun gun multiple times, according to the outlet. The man can be heard shouting, “I’m your brother! I’m scared!” and “I’m sorry!” He was unarmed, the report said.
TWO DEPUTIES FIRED FOR TREATMENT OF BLACK MAN WHO DIED IN JAIL
Troopers can be heard in the video telling the man multiple times to put his hands behind his back. One trooper struck Greene at least three times in the back.
Greene appears to have been left on his stomach following the struggle. One trooper, who the Associated Press identified as Kory York, briefly dragged Greene by his ankle cuffs while he was lying facedown.
Internal documents show York was suspended without pay for 50 hours following the incident for the dragging and improperly deactivating his body camera. He told investigators it was loudly beeping and that his “mind was on other things,” the report added.
The article also said Greene was left unattended on his stomach for over nine minutes, and officers wiped blood off their hands with sanitizing wipes.
“I hope this guy ain’t got f—— AIDS,” one person said.
After several minutes during which Greene cannot be seen on camera, he reportedly reappeared limp, unresponsive, and bleeding from the face and head before being loaded onto a gurney.
Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth said he “beat the ever-living f— out of” Greene, according to a recording reported by the Associated Press but not published on Wednesday. “Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control,” he added. “He was spitting blood everywhere, and all of a sudden, he just went limp.”
Hollingsworth died in a single-vehicle highway accident in September, hours after being told he would be terminated for his involvement in the 2019 incident, reports said at the time.
Dakota DeMoss, another trooper whose body camera footage from the incident the Associated Press said it obtained, was arrested last year in relation to a separate excessive force incident.
Emergency room doctor Omokhuale Omokhodion said Greene’s family was initially told by law enforcement he had died on impact after crashing into a tree, according to a document obtained by the outlet. In an addendum to the report, Omokhodion said he was later told by the authorities Greene “had been involved in a fight and struggle with them where he was tased three times.”
State police later released a statement claiming that Greene died on his way to the hospital.
The report said at least six troopers were on scene and not all had their body cameras on. The Associated Press did not state how it obtained the video.
“The investigation into the death of Ronald Greene remains under review by federal and state authorities,” Louisiana State Police Capt. Nick Manale said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The premature public release of investigative files and video evidence in this case is not authorized and was not obtained through official sources.”
He added, “Unauthorized release of evidence undermines the investigative process and compromises the fair and impartial outcome for the Greene family, LSP employees, and the community.”
State police initially argued the use of force in the matter was justified, but they eventually opened an administrative investigation into the incident 474 days after Greene’s death, the report said.
“Any day now, the family’s looking forward to arrests for criminal accountability for these men. There is an ongoing federal investigation into the actions of these officers,” Lee Merritt, an attorney for the family, told local news station KNOE in April. Greene’s family has also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court. They were permitted to see the footage in October.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Merritt’s office for further clarification on the purported investigation but did not immediately hear back.
Though he noted Greene was “not without fault,” Andrew Scott, a former Boca Raton, Florida, police chief who testifies as an expert witness in use-of-force cases, said that dragging the man facedown by his ankles was “malicious, sadistic, completely unnecessary.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“You don’t leave somebody lying on the ground, particularly after you’ve had this fight,” Charles Key, a former Baltimore police lieutenant and use-of-force expert, said. “The training has been for a number of years that, as soon as you get someone under control, you put them on their side to facilitate their breathing … and particularly this guy because he was very heavy.”
“They murdered him. It was set out, it was planned,” Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, said on Wednesday. “He didn’t have a chance. Ronnie didn’t have a chance. He wasn’t going to live to tell about it.”
<mediadc-iframe data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1621473296946,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c2-d172-a563-4fea7f950001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1621473296946,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c2-d172-a563-4fea7f950001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"iFrameEmbedCode":"","_id":"00000179-8756-d8d5-afff-a7f7fcb40000","_type":"00000161-b425-d761-a563-f7e77e270000"}”>iFrame Object
