In September, the Black Information Network reported details regarding the death of Louisiana man Ronald Greene. This month, a newly released recording has revealed disturbing new details regarding Greene's death.
Initially, authorities reported that Greene died in 2019 from injuries that he suffered in a car accident after evading police officers. Nearly a year after his death, NAACP’s Baton Rouge branch revealed photos of Greene's body after the accident. In the graphic photos, Greene's face appeared bruised and bloodied. As a result, the Greene family argued that his injuries were not consistent with a car accident and filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
“The brutality used against him, that was not what his family was told,” attorney Lee Merritt said.
“It appears that Mr. Greene was sat upon by several officers who tased him repeatedly and beat him before he entered cardiac arrest.”
Shortly after the wrongful death lawsuit was filed, the F.B.I. stepped in and opened their own investigation. Not long into the investigation, the Associated Press uncovered a 27-second audio clip of an officer bragging about beating Greene before his death.
“I beat the ever-living [expletive] out of him,” Louisiana trooper Chris Hollingsworth told a colleague.
“We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there, and the son of a [expletive] was still fighting him, was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down," Hollingsworth added.
“He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden he just went limp," he ended.
Eugene Collings of the Baton Rouge NAACP described the recordings as "disgusting and morally bankrupt." Greene's family attorney, Lee Merritt, has called on the state to release the full recording.
“It is shocking that this evidence has been withheld for over a year,” Merritt said.
State Police have not disputed the tape's authenticity of commented on the matter. Hollingsworth died in a car accident months after Greene. His family has not publicly commented on the matter either.
Photo: Getty Images