Louisiana trooper quietly buried amid scrutiny over Black man’s death

A Louisiana state trooper who died in a single-car crash just hours after he was told he would be fired for his role in the death of a Black man was buried with honors Friday at a ceremony that authorities sought to keep secret out of concerns it would attract a mass protest. State Police officials and family members mourned Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth under tight security at services that marked the latest turn in the long-simmering in-custody death case of Ronald Greene, which has prompted a federal civil-rights probe and increasing calls for authorities to release body-camera video. Greene’s family has filed a federal wrongful-death suit alleging troopers “brutalized” him, shocked him three times with a stun gun and left him “beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest.” Hollingsworth died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a single-car highway crash in Monroe that came just hours after he received a letter informing him that State Police intended to fire him over his role in Greene’s death. Although no protests materialized at the funeral, several dozen people gathered later in the day outside the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge to denounce “violence or death at the hands of law enforcement officers.” Ronald Greene died in police custody in May 2019. “Retired departmental personnel and active duty troopers who pass away in a non-line-of-duty death are afforded Honor Guard representation based on the requests of the family.” An online fundraiser for the trooper’s family said Hollingsworth would be remembered for his “quick, contagious smile and his dedication” to his schoolteacher wife of 21 years and their teenage son.