New revelations today about the circumstances surrounding the death of Ronald Greene in 2019, A Black man seemingly beat to death by State Police troopers following a car chase in Ouachita Parish. This comes from an ongoing legislative special committee tasked with digging into the incident amidst allegations that elements within LSP tried to cover it up.
The morning began with comments from Trooper Triet Le, who was tasked with handling the wiping of LSP issued cell phones. A number of LSP higher-ups had their cell phones wiped by Le, reportedly in early 2020, before investigators could get access to them.
Le told committee members that prior to 2021 there was no active practice of documenting who’s cell phones were being factory reset, and when, and no practice of backing up the data from those phones before they were wiped and reissued to other troopers. This, according to Houma Representative Tanner Magee, despite a written policy issued in 2014 that requires documentation of what phones were “sanitized” and when.
The committee also heard from current LSP second in command Lt. Col. Doug Cain, who was the head of public affairs at the time of the Green incident. Cain shocked committee members when he told them he would not be answering any questions about when, or why he had his phone wiped. He defended the decision by saying the issue was part of an internal investigation by LSP, and thus he could not comment publicly on the matter.
Lawmakers suggested the timing of the investigation, which began March 4th, was suspicious because it comes years after the incident, but just in time to protect LSP members from having to discuss the matter under oath to the Legislature.
“I’m hearing that y'all want to be the sunshine, but I’m seeing that you want to close the shades,” said Magee.
“It’s so convenient to me that Clary, you (Cain), all of y’all wiped your, sanitized your phones around the same time, just coincidently… and now we can’t talk about it,” said Baton Rouge Representative Denise Marcelle.
Cain denied allegations of a cover-up and also hit back on a running narrative that LSP misled the public about Greene’s death. Cain disputed allegations that LSP was selling the story that Greene died in a car crash by citing some local Northeast Louisiana news reports from the time. Cain said LSP reached out to local media and mentioned the death came after a traffic stop and altercation.
The Advocate and AP note no official press release was sent, Greene's' family says they were told he died in a crash, and the initial autopsy claimed he died of crash injuries.
Several lawmakers on the committee suggested that Cain should be placed on administrative leave. After Cain spoke, current Superintendent Lamar Davis took questions and pushed back on the idea that Cain should be removed from his post, even if temporarily.
“When we’re dealing with a department and dealing with a profession where if everybody feels that they will be threatened just by the mere nature of a complaint then we are going to find ourselves without a profession that will go to bat and do the things that our men and women do,” said Davis.
Following Davis’ testimony former LSP Sergeant Albert Paxton spoke. Paxton was one of the troopers involved in investigating Greene’s death and arrived at the rural Ouachita Parish scene about two hours after Greene was stopped just after midnight.
Paxton made a series of explosive claims, saying he was stonewalled by higher-ups and threatened with retaliation if his investigation led to any charges filed against troopers involved. He recounted one threat.
“If anybody gets arrested as a result of this investigation there’s going to be issues with patrol and BOI,” said Paxton.
He described comments by former LSP Superintendent Kevin Reeves about the Green incident, saying Reeves called it “awful but lawful.”
Paxton also alleged that the local DA was pressured by a delegation of LSP higher-ups, including now Superintendent Lamar Davis, to not pursue charges, an effort he said was spearheaded by Cain. Paxton was asked point-blank by Marcelle if he believed there was a cover-up of the Green incident.
After a pause, Paxton replied yes, he believes there is a cover-up.
