Five members of Louisiana State law enforcement are now charged in the 2019 death of Ronald Greene. It’s the first time in this case that criminal charges have developed since Greene’s violent death.
Listen to Newell’s full take:
On May 10, 2019, authorities say Greene failed to stop for a traffic violation and led troopers on a chase at night. It eventually ended along a road near Monroe. State police initially told Greene's family he died after crashing into a tree. Following more than two years of refusing to release the troopers’ body worn camera footage, the Associated Press in 2021 obtained and then made public body cam video showing troopers repeatedly punching and stunning Greene. At one point in the video, Greene can be heard on camera saying “I’m your brother! I’m scared!” A trooper can later be seen dragging Greene by his ankle shackles and left face down in the dirt for more than nine minutes and then going limp.
In the aftermath of the AP’s investigation, the U.S. Justice Department has conducted a review of the Louisiana State Police and Governor John Bel Edwards is under scrutiny over when he had knowledge of the body cam video. One trooper faces the most serious charges among the group. Master Trooper Kory York was charged with negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office. The rest of the troopers faced various charges of malfeasance and obstruction of justice. Green’s mother was guarded with her reaction to the indictments. She welcomed the charges, but she questioned whether they will eventually “stick”.
On Friday’s edition of the Newell Normand Show, Newell spoke from his decades of experience in law enforcement, including his time as the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish.
“My view is if there was anyone who said there was no video and that lied with the chain of command should have been fired by now, plain and simple and when they conduct their internal investigation and they realized that that was in fact the case, some actually resigned, they should’ve been fired. And that helps bring about a credibility check for the organization. This has gone on for far too long. And any organization where you can shield body cam video like this for the length of time that was done in the particular incident, there’s something fundamental wrong with their chain of custody, chain of evidence and the way they conduct their investigation,” Newell said.
