Louisiana prosecutors drop most serious charge in deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene

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. “They killed my son and no one gives a rat’s ass.” Greene’s death sparked national outrage and was among several beatings of Black men by Louisiana troopers that prompted the U.S. Justice Department to open an ongoing civil rights investigation into the state police. Union Parish District Attorney John Belton said in a statement that even though the grand jury indicted York for negligent homicide, the evidence “does not meet the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard necessary to secure a conviction at trial.” Belton also dropped a malfeasance count against the recently retired York that stemmed from authorities’ still-unproven suspicion that Greene was pepper-sprayed even after he was handcuffed. “I am confident that once the jury looks a those videos they’re not going to see any illegal touching of Ronald Greene by Kory York.” Greene’s May 2019 death case has been shrouded in secrecy from the beginning 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 — an account immediately questioned by an emergency room doctor who noted Greene’s bruised, battered body. He is seen on video stepping on Greene’s back, pressing his body to the ground for several minutes and repeatedly ordering him to “shut up” and “lay on your f------ belly like I told you to!” Use-of-force experts say that type of prone restraint could have dangerously restricted Greene’s breathing, and the state police’s own force instructor described the troopers’ actions as “torture and murder.” For years, Hardin has crisscrossed the country advocating for justice in her son’s death and has vowed to not even bury his ashes until she gets it.