Always Only the Appearance of Justice in the Lex-icon. From [HERE] and [HERE] A Union Parish, Louisiana, grand jury Thursday indicted five Louisiana State Police (LSP) officers relating to the 2019 death of Black driver Ronald Greene in police custody. Greene died on a roadside in northeast Louisiana, and authorities initially ruled that his death was the result of a car crash. However, suppressed body camera footage soon emerged showing the officers in question beating, stunning and dragging Greene.

In the video, which led to a US Department of Justice review of the agency and the incident, Greene screamed, “I’m scared.” The review will also examine whether Governor John Bel Edwards (a white democrat) knew about the circumstances of Greene’s death and whether he was involved with efforts to bury the video evidence.

It took 474 days for state police to launch an internal inquiry and officials from Gov. John Bel Edwards on down refused to release body camera video for more than two years. That was until the AP obtained and published it in May, showing white troopers beating Greene and dragging him by his ankle shackles, even as he pleaded for mercy and wailed, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!”

According to KNOE’s Alyssa Azzara, who was present in the courtroom when the grand jury decision was announced, the officers were charged as follows:

• LSP Trooper Kory York faces one count of negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office;

• LSP Trooper John Cleary faces one count of obstruction of justice;

• Former LSP Trooper Dakota Demoss faces one count of obstruction of justice;

• Former LSP Troop F Captain John Peters faces one count of obstruction of justice; and

• Union Parish Deputy Chris Harpin face three counts of malfeasance in office.

Another trooper involved in the arrest, Chris Hollingsworth, was killed in a single-vehicle highway crash in 2020. The Associated Press reported at the time that he had been notified hours earlier that he would be fired for his part in Mr. Greene’s fatal arrest.

The case reached the grand jury in November, brought by John Belton, the district attorney for Union Parish. Mr. Belton had said that federal prosecutors did not object to him moving forward with the case.

According to the civil complaint filed on behalf of Mr. Greene:

On or about 12 a.m. on May 10, 2019, Greene was driving a silver Toyota CH-R on U.S. 80 in Monroe, Louisiana. Trooper Demoss contends that he attempted to initiate a traffic stop of Greene’s car. Trooper Demoss does not define any violation of the motor vehicle code that would justify a stop. Instead, he contends that he observed a “traffic violation”. Greene did not stop his car and a vehicle pursuit ensued.

Greene traveled along US 80 to LA 143 and into Union Parish where his car swerved, spun, and crashed into a wooded area.

The front of Greene’s car did not make impact with a tree and his airbag did not deploy. The highest level of impact sustained by the car occurred in the rear driver side and said impact was moderate.

Greene was able to exit the vehicle without assistance. Green was not injured and could walk, speak and otherwise function in a healthy manner after the crash.

Almost immediately thereafter, Trooper Demoss and Master Trooper Hollingsworth arrived on the scene. Shortly thereafter, Captain Peters, Lieutenant Clary, Sergeant McElroy, Master Trooper York, and Deputy Sherriff Harpin arrived at the scene.

Greene exited his car and began to apologize to the officers, telling them he knew he should have stopped the vehicle earlier. Officers pinned Greene down on the ground while he screamed ‘Oh my God.’”

Greene was moaning, begging the officers to stop, and repeatedly saying “I’m sorry.” Despite Greene’s contrition and surrender, Trooper Demoss, Master Trooper Hollingsworth, Master Trooper York, Captain Peters, Lieutenant Clary, Sergeant McElroy, and Deputy Sherriff Harpin individually and in concert used lethal force against Greene.

Trooper Demoss beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat. Master Trooper Hollingsworth beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat.

Master Trooper York beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat.

Lieutenant Clary beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat. Sergeant McElroy beat, smothered and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat. Captain Peters beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat. Deputy Sherriff Harpin beat, smothered, and choked Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat.

Despite Greene’s contrition and surrender Defendant officers used an electronic control weapon against Greene at least three times thus attacking his heart with massive amounts of electricity. It is currently unknown which officer or officers used electronic control weapon(s) because the Louisiana State Police refused to produce or release bodycam footage, dashboard cam footage, discharge logs, use of force reports or any number of investigative materials that would identify who used lethal force.

Trooper Demoss watched other officers beat, smother, choke, and use an electronic control weapon on Greene despite the fact that he had surrendered, was not resisting, was in custody, and posed no threat.

The force used against Greene was unjustified, unreasonable, excessive, and in violation of Greene’s Fourth Amendment rights.

The force used against Greene left him beaten, bloodied, and in cardiac arrest. An officer called for an ambulance at 12:29 a.m.

When the Emergency Medical Technicians arrived at 12:51 a.m. they found Greene unresponsive. He was propped up against an officer’s leg, covered in blood with multiple “TASER” Barbs penetrating his body.

Emergency Medical Technicians determined that Greene was in cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Greene was placed on a gurney and transported to Glenwood Medical Center. He remained unresponsive when he arrived at 1:25 a.m. Greene was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m.

An initial report from Glenwood Medical Center listed the principle cause of Greene’s death as cardiac arrest. He was also diagnosed with an “unspecified injury of head.”

Master Trooper Hollingsworth confirmed the vicious and unconstitutional nature of the Officers’ conduct by confessing that he choked and “beat the ever-loving fuck” out of Greene until he was spitting blood and went limp.

Master Trooper Hollingsworth confirmed that this vicious and unconstitutional beating was inflicted by multiple officers and in the presence of multiple officers.

All Defendants immediately began efforts to obfuscate the true nature of the conduct that caused Greene’s death. The following are examples of the Officers’ deceptions:

Greene’s family was told that he had been killed in an auto accident.

Greene’s mother was told that he had been killed immediately after hitting a tree.

The call for Emergency Medical Services omitted any mention that force had been used. The sole police report produced to date does not indicate that force was used.

Inconsistent versions of the Officers’ involvement with Greene were provided to medical treatment providers at Glenwood Hospital.

The sole police report produced to date asserted that Greene was intoxicated prior to any toxicology examinations being conducted.

Greene’s body was sent out of the State of Louisiana to conduct an autopsy, denying the right of the family to have a representative observe same. Green’s family has been denied access to video footage of the use of lethal force. Doctor Omokhuale, an emergency room physician at Glenwood confirms the Officers’ deception and stated as follows: “obtaining more history from different law enforcement personal, the account of what happened was disjointed and does not add up. Different versions are present and family did not come to the emergency room. Family states they were told by law enforcement that patient died on impact with tree immediately after motor vehicle accident, but law enforcement state to me that patient out of the car and was running and involved in a fight and struggle where them where he was tased 3 times.”

After officials refused for more than two years to release the troopers’ body camera video, the AP obtained and published it this spring, showing white troopers converging on Greene before he can even get out of his car, repeatedly stunning and punching him as he appears to surrender and repeatedly wails, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” A trooper can later be seen dragging the heavyset Greene by his ankle shackles and he is left prone and face down in the dirt for more than nine minutes before he eventually goes limp.

Yet even after AP published video of Greene’s violent arrest, state officials and advocates for the troopers repeated the crash theory, with Gov. John Bel Edwards floating it as recently as September.

“The issue would be did he die from injuries sustained in the accident?” Edwards, a Democrat, said on a radio program. “Obviously, he didn’t die in the accident itself because he was still alive when the troopers were engaging with him. But what was the cause of death? I don’t know that that was falsely portrayed.”

Edwards went on to say troopers' actions were “criminal” but that whether they caused Greene’s death was the subject of an investigation and “I’m not going to get in front of that.”

A lawyer for the troopers involved in Greene’s arrest told a court in July that the crash killed him. [MORE]