Louisiana: Lawmakers Launch ‘All Levels’ Probe Into Ronald Greene's Death

Photo: Body-cam shot

Declaring “no cover-up will be tolerated,” Louisiana’s House speaker announced a bipartisan legislative investigation Thursday into the deadly 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene, an inquiry that will examine the state’s response at “all levels,” from troopers to the governor.

Republican Rep. Clay Schexnayder said he launched the probe in response to an Associated Press report last month that showed Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards was informed within hours that troopers arresting Greene engaged in a “violent, lengthy struggle,” yet he kept quiet for two years as state police told a much different story to the victim’s family and in official reports: that Greene died from a crash after a high-speed chase.

“These events have raised serious questions regarding who knew what and when,” Schexnayder said in a statement. “The actions taken that night and the cryptic decisions and statements made every step of the way since then have eroded public trust.”

Edwards, who was in the midst of a tight reelection campaign at the time of Greene’s May 2019 death near Monroe, did not speak out in detail about the case until last May, after the AP obtained and published long-withheld body-camera video showing white troopers jolting Greene with stun guns, punching him in the face and dragging him by his ankle shackles as he wailed, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!” Read more.