Sean Greene, brother of Ronald Greene, at a Washington, D.C., march against police brutality Aug. 28, 2020.Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty
A Black man who died in police custody did so after apparently pleading for his life, according to newly released officer body-cam footage of the 2019 incident.
The video captures Ronald Greene, 49, telling Louisiana state troopers “I’m sorry!” and “I’m scared!” as he was violently arrested after failing to stop for a traffic violation, tased with a stun gun while still in his car and then punched in the face.
Greene was pronounced dead at a hospital after medics who responded to the scene on May 10, 2019, found him unresponsive. His family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Greene’s family and attorneys saw the video last fall, but it had not previously been made public, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement Wednesday shared with PEOPLE.
Edwards “has seen the video previously and found it to be disturbing,” his office said. But state police had agreed with requests from the U.S. attorney and the district attorney not to release it unless approved at “the conclusion of their investigations.”
“It is of the utmost importance that the Ronald Greene family and our community, as a whole, be provided complete and truthful answers about what happened to him,” John Belton, the district attorney for Louisiana’s Third Judicial District, said in a statement Wednesday also shared with PEOPLE.
Belton said that on the day he received a report on Greene’s death from the state police, he asked the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct “an independent review of the circumstances surrounding his death, including whether any criminal or civil rights violations occurred.”
Signs called attention to Ronald Greene’s case at a March on Washington in August 2020.MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/POOL/AFP via Getty
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Greene’s family, said the video’s release reinforced their call for justice.
“This was a malicious attack on the side of the road on a fully surrendered man,” Merritt toldThe Washington Post.
“He was perfectly fine when the car came to a stop,” Merritt said in a separate interview withThe New York Times. “He wasn’t apparently injured at all. It’s obvious from these videos he was brutalized and tortured for about 15 minutes.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
No one has been charged in connection with Greene’s death. One of the troopers involved, Chris Hollingsworth, died last fall in a car crash, state police spokesman Lt. Melissa Matey confirmed to PEOPLE; another, Kory York, was suspended after Greene’s death but has since been restored to active duty.
State police criticized the video’s release.
The agency “is confident in the judicial system and fair review of this incident and continues to offer our full cooperation,” its statement said. “Unauthorized release of evidence undermines the investigative process and compromises the fair and impartial outcome for the Greene family, LSP employees, and the community.”
According to AP, the video from the officers' body camera captured troopers punching and dragging Greene at the end of a high-speed chase outside of Monroe.
“I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” the unarmed Greene is heard saying to the white troopers, who repeatedly jolt him with a stun gun even as he remains inside his vehicle, according to the video.
“The 46-minute clip shows one trooper wrestling Greene to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face while another can be heard calling him a ‘stupid motherf—–,'” reports the AP.
In further describing the video, the outlet reports: “Greene wails ‘I’m sorry!’ as another trooper delivers another stun gun shock to his backside and warns, ‘Look, you’re going to get it again if you don’t put your f—— hands behind your back!’ Another trooper can be seen briefly dragging the man facedown after his legs had been shackled and his hands cuffed behind him.”
Greene was then left facedown for more than nine minutes, while officers cleaned blood from their hands and faces using sanitary wipes.
“I hope this guy ain’t got f—— AIDS,” one of the troopers is overheard saying on the video.
Renee Smith, the Union Parish coroner, told the AP that Greene’s death was ruled accidental and was attributed to cardiac arrest.
His family had been told he died in the car accident, reports thePost.
“They murdered him. It was set out, it was planned,” Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, said Wednesday, the AP reports. “He didn’t have a chance. Ronnie didn’t have a chance. He wasn’t going to live to tell about it.”
The video footage “has some of the same hallmarks of the George Floyd video, the length of it, the sheer brutality of it,” Merritt, the family’s attorney, told the AP. “He apologized in an attempt to surrender.”
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed its criminal investigation of the case, including the involvement of its civil rights division, and said “appropriate action” would be taken if federal crimes were committed, reports thePost.
An attorney for trooper York, Jay Adams, told the newspaper on Wednesday, “We have no comment at this time on this pending litigation.”
source: people.com
