Two weeks before Memorial Day in 2019, Ronald Greene died after an encounter with police officers in Louisiana. Initial reports from police indicated that Greene refused to pull over when officers asked him to and ended up in a single-car crash. After the alleged crash, state troopers reported that they attempted to apprehend Greene and get him medical attention.
“Greene was taken into custody after resisting arrest and a struggle with troopers,” a report regarding the crash states.
After Greene was taken into police custody, he was taken to the hospital. On his way to the hospital, the report claims he "became unresponsive" and died. After Greene's death, Chris Hollingsworth was placed on administrative leave. Interestingly enough, he died in a car accident not long thereafter.
More questions were raised regarding Greene's death when the Baton Rouge, Louisiana chapter of the NAACP obtained photos pertaining to the incident. The photos showed Greene's face bruised and bloodied with car damage that the motorist's family says is inconsistent with a car accident like the one the report describes.
“It appears that Mr. Greene was sat upon by several officers who tased him repeatedly and beat him before he entered cardiac arrest," Greene's family attorney, Lee Meritt, said last year.
More than a year after Greene's death, the Federal Bureau of Investigation stepped in and began looking into the matter. Not long after the FBI stepped in, the Associated Press uncovered audio recordings of Hollingsworth discussing Greene's death. The former state trooper can be heard bragging about assaulting Greene before he died.
“I beat the ever-living [expletive] out of him,” 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."
Just months after finding recordings of Hollingsworth talking about Greene, the Associated Press has obtained three videos taken on the night that Greene died. The video clips show officers tasing, kicking and dragging Greene across the road.
"Let me see your f------ hands m--------," an officer shouts as he demands Greene get out of his car.
"OK, OK. I'm sorry. I'm scared. Officer, I'm scared, I'm your brother, I'm scared," Greene replies.
One officer appears to tase Greene as another officer handcuffs and kicks him. According to the Associated Press, Greene was left to lay on the ground for nearly nine minutes as officers attempted to wash his blood off of them.
"I've got blood all over me, I hope this guy ain't got f------ AIDS," one officer said.
At this time, it is unclear how the Associated Press obtained the video. Captain Chavez Cammon, who was promoted following this incident, had previously said that the video could not be released because it was part of an ongoing investigation. The Louisiana State Troopers also claim to have not released the video to any media outlets.
The Greene family has not released a statement regarding the video.