Photo courtesy of NY 1 News
Louisiana State Police investigators told lawmakers on Tuesday that commanders refused to listen as they addressed their concerns regarding the 2019 arrest of motorist Ronald Greene. Additionally, they were told to conceal the video involving the Black man’s final moments that the agency’s expert declared as “torture and murder.”
According to the Associated Press, the state legislators witnessed powerful testimony from a supervisor who affirmed that he was instructed not to hand over the body-camera footage of the police officers stunning, punching, and dragging Greene.
“Nobody in my chain of command wanted anything done,” Lt. Scott Brown told a special committee investigating the state’s handling of Greene’s death. “They can’t come here and admit to that. They’d go to prison.”
Brown seemingly defied the orders and reported his superiors to the former head of the state police. However, he noted that the commissioner disregarded the attempted interference and is now under federal investigation.
Last month, the bipartisan committee assembled to hear the facts regarding Greene’s case. The AP reported that Gov. John Bel Edwards was informed of the incident just hours after the troopers had engaged in a “violent, lengthy struggle” during Greene’s arrest. However, Edwards’ two-year silence responded to what state police had told Greene’s family. The reports stated that his death was due to a car accident following a high-speed chase outside Monroe.
The outlet obtained the complete body-camera footage and released it last year, revealing what happened leading up to the motorist’s death. In the video, the troopers shocked Greene with stun guns, repeatedly punched him in the face and dragged him by his ankles as he shouted in fear, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!”
After listening to the details at Tuesday’s hearing, several lawmakers conveyed frustration with state police leaders, stating that their nonchalant responses have caused a continuing distrust within the community.
“This is an attempt to not be transparent,” state Rep. Tanner Magee, the committee’s chairman, said at one point, dressing down the agency’s second-in-command, Lt. Col. Doug Cain. “If we trusted you, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
New details in Greene’s death emerged before the panel as two front-line troopers told lawmakers their concerns were ignored for months.
The two law enforcement officials told legislators that the troopers also pepper-sprayed Greene while in handcuffs — just moments before he stopped breathing.
“At the end of the day, somebody is going to get me in a deposition, or I’m going to be on the trial stand …, and I’ll call it torture and murder,” Sgt. Scott Davis, the agency’s use-of-force expert, told lawmakers.
Albert Paxton, the leading detective in Greene’s case, told lawmakers the superior officer at the scene of Greene’s death should be prosecuted. He said the official engaged in a “cover-up” while dismissing the existence of his body-camera footage.
Meanwhile, Lt. John Clary is at the center of an ongoing federal investigation after his video was reportedly withheld from state and federal authorities for months. According to reports obtained by AP, state police cleared Clary of wrongdoing in the case, citing that it was unclear whether his footage was “purposefully withheld.”
A grand jury in Shreveport has listened to testimony in the case as federal prosecutors decide whether to charge Clary and others involved.
Paxton, who recently retired from his position with the state police, said, “It’s never been my word” while providing detailed information regarding Greene’s case. “It’s been the evidence.”
The AP obtained a use-of-force report stating that Greene was pepper-sprayed sometime during his arrest. “I know that they were spraying him,” Davis testified Tuesday.
While Davis confirmed the troopers used pepper spray on Greene, the federal authorities started to question if they could prove that pepper- spray was used during the arrest. Even after FBI officials enhanced the body-camera videos, the issue was raised, prompting officials to seek anonymity to discuss the ongoing federal investigation.
In recent months, federal prosecutors have focused on the use of pepper spray to prove that troopers acted “willfully” during the arrest. However, law enforcement officials said a slew of federal charges might be applied in addition to the unlawful treatment Greene faced from state police.
A Black state trooper, 33-year-old Carl Cavalier, told a local news station in October that he was facing termination after stating that the department engaged in a “cover-up” in Greene’s death and labeled the troopers as “murderers” in the case, News Onyx reported.