Louisiana prosecutors drop most serious charge in fatal arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene

Louisiana prosecutors on Thursday dismissed the most serious remaining charge in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, dropping a negligent homicide count against a veteran trooper seen on body-camera video dragging the Black motorist by his ankle shackles and forcing him to lie face down before he stopped breathing.

The move comes just a month before Kory York’s trial marks only the latest withering of a case that began in 2022 with five officers indicted on a range of charges over the stunning, punching and pepper-spraying of Greene following a high-speed chase.

Now, only two officers still face charges, multiple felony malfeasance counts against York and another officer, all but eliminating the chance that anyone will face significant prison time in a death troopers initially blamed on a car crash.

“This whole thing started with a lie and a coverup and it’s going to end the same way,” a furious Mona Hardin told The Associated Press when told of the latest dropped charge in her son’s death.

“You have so much evidence yet no one wants to be the one pointing the finger against killer cops,” she said through tears. “They killed my son and no one gives a rat’s ass.”

Union Parish District Attorney John Belton said in a statement that even though the grand jury indicted York for negligent homicide, the evidence “does not meet the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard necessary to secure a conviction at trial.”

Belton also dropped a malfeasance count against the recently retired York that stemmed from authorities’ still-unproven suspicion that Greene was pepper-sprayed even after he was handcuffed.

“It’s clear to me that the case should never have been indicted,” said York attorney Mike Small, adding that he is seeking full exoneration of his client at his Oct. 28 trial. “I am confident that once the jury looks a those videos, they’re not going to see any illegal touching of Ronald Greene by Kory York.”

Greene’s May 2019 death sparked national outrage and was among several beatings of Black men by Louisiana troopers that prompted the U.S. Justice Department to open an ongoing civil rights investigation into the state police.

But the latest dismissal underscores a weakness in the case that has also discouraged the Justice Department from pursuing charges: After years of investigating, federal and state authorities failed to pinpoint what, exactly, caused Greene’s death during the arrest.

State prosecutors were long skeptical the negligent homicide charge would hold up in the face of autopsy reports that cited “complications of cocaine use” among contributing factors to Greene’s death. Others included troopers’ repeated use of a stun gun, “physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and neck compression,” but the forensic pathologist in Arkansas who examined Greene declined to identify which factor or factors were most lethal.

The case has been shrouded in secrecy from its outset, when state authorities told grieving relatives the 49-year-old died in a car crash at the end of a high-speed chase near Monroe — an account questioned immediately by an emergency room doctor who noted Greene’s bruised, battered body and wrote in his notes that “different versions” of events had been presented. Still, a coroner’s report listed Greene’s cause of death as a motor vehicle accident, a state police crash report omitted any mention of troopers using any force and 462 days passed before the state police even launched an internal investigation. A later autopsy ordered by the FBI found that the accident had not caused his death. 

All the while, officials from then-Gov. John Bel Edwards on down refused to release the body camera video of Greene’s arrest. That all changed in 2021, when AP obtained and published the long-suppressed footage showing troopers swarming Greene even as he appeared to raise his hands, plead for mercy and wail, “I’m your brother! I’m scared!” 

Troopers repeatedly jolted him with stun guns before he could even get out of the car, with one wrestling him to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face. Images of Greene’s body released by his family in 2020 showed he had deep bruises to his face and cuts on his head. 

One trooper struck Greene in the head with a flashlight and was recorded bragging that he “beat the ever-living f— out of him.” That trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, was widely considered the most culpable of the half-dozen officers involved but died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020 hours after he learned he would be fired.

York also played a prominent role in the arrest. He is seen on video pressing Greene’s body to the ground for several minutes and repeatedly ordering him to “shut up” and “lay on your f—— belly like I told you to!” Use-of-force experts say that type of prone restraint could have dangerously restricted Greene’s breathing, and the state police’s own force instructor described the troopers’ actions as “torture and murder.”

Edwards denounced the officers’ actions after the footage was released. He has denied delaying investigations into the incident.

“I can’t imagine if Mr. Greene had been White he would have been treated that way,” Edwards said in a 2019 news conference. “We have to acknowledge racism when we see it. We have to call it what it is.”

For years, Hardin has crisscrossed the country advocating for justice in her son’s death and has vowed to not even bury his ashes until she gets it. In an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, Hardin said she would never give up on her mission. 

“I wish I could tell you that these officers have been convicted of crimes they did that night. But they have not. I wish I could tell you that justice has been served for my Ronnie, but it has not. No one has been held accountable for my child’s death,” she said. 

“How many Black men, women and children will be killed by the police before we make a real change? How many Black men, women and children do we have to watch get slaughtered by White cops on camera?” Hardin continued. “Ronnie was a father, a brother, an uncle, a friend to many. He was loved and taken too soon. Our family will never, ever be the same.”