3yrs After White LA Troopers Murdered Ronald Greene, Black DA Announces Grand Jury. Cops Brutally Beat Handcuffed and Shackled Black Man to Death w/Fists, Flashlights, Dragged Him Facedown on Ground

RONALD GREENE WAS A BLACK MAN WHO WAS TORTURED AND MURDERED BY WHITE TROOPERS IN LA. ON MAY 10, 2019, GREENE, WHO WAS UNARMED, DIED AFTER BEING ARRESTED BY LOUISIANA STATE POLICE FOLLOWING A HIGH-SPEED CHASE OUTSIDE MONROE, LOUISIANA. DURING THE ARREST, HE WAS STUNNED, PUNCHED, AND PLACED IN A CHOKEHOLD. HE WAS ALSO DRAGGED FACE DOWN WHILE HANDCUFFED AND SHACKLED, AND HE WAS LEFT FACE DOWN FOR AT LEAST NINE MINUTES. AT LEAST SIX WHITE TROOPERS WERE INVOLVED IN THE ARREST.

From [HERE] Three years after the death of Ronald Greene, a district attorney said he will convene a grand jury and seek indictments against Louisiana police officers in the brutal beating death of the Black motorist in 2019.

A grand jury will convene Nov. 10, District Attorney John Belton told the USA TODAY Network. Belton is Black.

Greene was tortured and brutally beaten to death and from his injuries during a Louisiana State Police arrest in 2019 following a high-speed chase that ended in a car crash near Monroe, Louisiana. He was unarmed and begged the cops for life.

Shortly after midnight on May 10, 2019, State Trooper Dakota DeMoss attempted to pull over Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old African-American barber, for an unspecified traffic violation near Monroe, Louisiana. Greene did not stop, and troopers chased him on rural highways at over 115 mph (185 km/h). During the chase, DeMoss radioed that "We got to do something. He's going to kill somebody."

When Greene finally did stop, DeMoss and Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth rushed to Greene's vehicle as Greene said repeatedly, "OK, OK. I'm sorry." Within seconds, Hollingsworth shot Greene with a stun gun through the driver's window while commanding Greene to get out of the car.

After Greene, who was unarmed, got out through the car's passenger side, one trooper wrestled him to the ground, put him in a chokehold, and punched him in the face.Hollingsworth struck Greene multiple times. While they tried to handcuff Greene, one of the troopers said "He's grabbing me", and another said "Put your hands behind your back, bitch."  Greene cried "I'm sorry!" and "I'm your brother! I'm scared!" Another trooper stunned Greene a second time, and said he would shoot again "if you don't put your fucking hands behind your back".

After handcuffing Greene and shackling his legs, Trooper Kory York dragged Greene facedown along the ground. Before York dragged Greene, Greene had tried to prop himself up on his side, leading York to shout at Greene: "Don't you turn over! Lay on your belly!" After dragging Greene, York told him: "You better lay on your fucking belly like I told you to! You understand?"

Instead of rendering aid, the troopers left Greene unattended, facedown and moaning, for at least nine minutes while they cleaned blood off themselves with sanitizer wipes. One trooper said, "I hope this guy ain't got fucking AIDS." Another trooper referred to Greene as a "stupid motherfucker".

At some point during the arrest, the troopers said that they did not want to have Greene sit up because they feared he would spit blood on them, to which Lieutenant John Clary told them not to sit Greene up. At another point, according to an investigator's report filed around early April 2021, "Greene's eyes are squeezed shut as he shakes his head back and forth moaning in pain, movements consistent with having been sprayed in the face with (pepper) spray", and about this time an officer "asked Greene if he has his attention now" and another said, "Yeah, that shit hurts, doesn’t it?"

After several minutes, Greene, unresponsive and bleeding from the head, was put in an ambulance, handcuffed to the stretcher. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. [MORE]

During a series of summer hearings conducted by a special Louisiana House committee formed to investigate Greene's death, a high-ranking State Police official testified he was asked to conceal evidence in the case. The agency's use-of-force expert also described the arrest as "torture and murder."

Belton testified during the hearings that he believes state and federal crimes were committed, including federal civil rights violations. He called the video of Greene's arrest "the worst thing I've ever seen."

Republican State House Speaker Clay Schexnayder said he expects the committee to meet twice more before the end of the year, though no specific dates have been set.

In February, a USA TODAY investigation found the Louisiana State Police fired a trooper who helped expose how the department allegedly covered up Greene's death.

In graphic footage that helped fuel protests, white troopers swarmed Greene's car after a high-speed chase, jolted him with stun guns, punched him in the face and dragged him by his ankle shackles as he wailed, "I'm your brother! I'm scared! I'm scared!"

Louisiana Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, who was widely seen as the most culpable of the half-dozen officers involved, repeatedly bashed Greene in the head with a flashlight. 

State police initially told Greene’s family he died after crashing into a tree, an account the coroner committed to writing in an official report, which describes Greene’s death as a motor vehicle accident and makes no mention of a confrontation with troopers.

Hollingsworth can't face any charges because he died just six days after the interrogation from a high-speed, single-vehicle, crash that came hours after he was told he would be fired for his role in Greene's arrest.

Though his death was ruled accidental, Hollingsworth's early morning, off-duty crash into a highway guardrail in Monroe prompted widespread speculation that the trooper took his own life. Hollingsworth was sober, not wearing a seatbelt and was a state police driving instructor traveling an interstate he had patrolled for decades. Crash reconstruction experts who reviewed case reports agreed the circumstances were suspicious and the probe by local police was inadequate.

Belton said he delayed prosecution on state charges until federal justice department officials released him from an earlier commitment to wait until their investigation was complete.

Greene's case will be brought to a grand jury after the Department of Justice earlier this year began investigating Louisiana State Police after beatings of mostly Black men.