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 coming just a month before Kory York鈥檚 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 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.
鈥淭his whole thing started with a lie and a coverup and it鈥檚 going to end the same way,鈥� a furious Mona Hardin told The Associated Press when told of the latest dropped charge in her son鈥檚 death.
鈥淵ou have so much evidence yet no one wants to be the one pointing the finger against killer cops," she said through tears. 鈥淭hey killed my son and no one gives a rat鈥檚 ass.鈥�
Union Parish District Attorney John Belton said in a statement that even though the grand jury indicted York for negligent homicide, the evidence 鈥渄oes not meet the 鈥榖eyond a reasonable doubt鈥� standard necessary to secure a conviction at trial.鈥�
Belton also dropped a malfeasance count against the recently retired York that stemmed from authorities鈥� still-unproven suspicion that Greene was pepper-sprayed even after he was handcuffed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear to me that the case should never have been indicted,鈥� said York attorney Mike Small, adding he seeks full exoneration of his client at his Oct. 28 trial. 鈥淚 am confident that once the jury looks a those videos they鈥檙e not going to see any illegal touching of Ronald Greene by Kory York.鈥�
Greene鈥檚 May 2019 death sparked and was among several beatings of Black men by Louisiana troopers that prompted the U.S. Justice Department to open an ongoing 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鈥檚 death during the arrest.
State prosecutors were long skeptical the negligent homicide charge would hold up in the face of autopsy reports that cited 鈥渃omplications of cocaine use鈥� among contributing factors to Greene鈥檚 death. Others included troopers鈥� repeated use of a stun gun, 鈥減hysical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and neck compression,鈥� 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 鈥� an account questioned immediately by an emergency room doctor who noted Greene鈥檚 bruised, battered body. Still, a coroner鈥檚 report listed Greene鈥檚 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.
All the while, officials from then-Gov. John Bel Edwards on down refused to release the body camera video of Greene鈥檚 arrest. That all changed in 2021 when AP the long-suppressed footage showing troopers swarming Greene even as he appeared to raise his hands, plead for mercy and wail, 鈥淚鈥檓 your brother! I鈥檓 scared!鈥�
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.
One trooper struck Greene in the head with a flashlight and was recorded bragging that he 鈥渂eat the ever-living f--- out of him.鈥� 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鈥檚 body to the ground for several minutes and repeatedly ordering him to 鈥渟hut up鈥� and 鈥渓ay on your f------ belly like I told you to!鈥� Use-of-force experts say that type of prone restraint could have dangerously restricted Greene鈥檚 breathing, and the state police鈥檚 own force instructor described the troopers鈥� actions as 鈥渢orture and murder.鈥�
For years, Hardin has crisscrossed the country advocating for justice in her son鈥檚 death and has vowed to not even bury his ashes until she gets it.
Now she is questioning if that day will ever come.
鈥淚 hate that my son is one of countless others,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot that could be fixed in Louisiana that will never be fixed because of choices like this.鈥�
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Mustian reported from New York. Contact AP鈥檚 global investigative team at [email protected].
Jim Mustian, The Associated Press
