Louisiana State Trooper kicked, dragged Ronald Greene before he died
Police previously claimed Greene died from injuries sustained in a car crash.
Body camera footage of a 2019 arrest has revealed that a Louisiana State Trooper kicked and dragged Ronald Greene — a Black man who died in police custody. According to internal State Police records, reported by the Associated Press, Master Trooper Kory York has been suspended without pay for kicking and dragging a handcuffed Greene “on his stomach by the leg shackles.”
The confrontation followed a high-speed chase that began when police tried to pull Greene over for a traffic stop. Troopers said Greene crashed his car into a tree during the chase and claimed he later passed away due to his injuries from the crash. However, Greene’s autopsy found inconsistencies with cops’ explanation, leading his family to demand to see the body camera footage and federal authorities to launch a civil rights investigation.
Greene’s family was finally permitted to see the footage last October, which they called “horrific.” The release of the internal State Police records is the first time the department has acknowledged that Greene was mistreated over a year after his death.
According to Oxygen, the footage also shows troopers choking and repeatedly tasing Greene. York, who turned off his body camera on his way to the scene, pulled on Greene’s shackles and dragged him face-down on the ground.
“You’re gonna lay on your fucking belly like I told you!” he screamed at Greene, according to the police records.
After the confrontation, Greene was taken to a local hospital where his family’s lawyer says he was “beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest.”
York’s suspension follows the termination of another trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, who admitted to the assault in a leaked audio recording. As reported by REVOLT, Master Trooper Hollingsworth said he “beat the ever-living fuck” out of Greene and “choked him” in the recording.
“We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there and the son of a bitch was still fighting him, was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down,” he continued. “He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden, he just went limp.”
Another trooper involved in Greene’s death, Dakota DeMoss, is currently facing separate charges for allegedly using excessive force on a motorist last year. So far, it’s unclear whether or not DeMoss has faced any disciplinary action for Greene’s death.
With the State Police records now released, Greene’s family’s lawyer said, “It is now undisputed that Trooper York participated in the brutal assault that took Ronald Greene’s life. This suspension is a start, but it does not come close to the full transparency and accountability the family continues to seek.”