Ronald Greene: Federal prosecutors won’t seek charges in deadly arrest of Black motorist

AP — Federal prosecutors told family members Tuesday they will not bring charges in the deadly 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene, closing the books on a lengthy FBI investigation into the White troopers who stunned, punched and dragged Greene on a roadside and allegations of an attempted cover-up by the Louisiana State Police. Even the emergency room doctor questioned the troopers’ initial account of a crash, writing in his notes: “Does not add up.” A reexamined autopsy ordered by the FBI ultimately debunked the crash narrative and listed “prone restraint” among other contributing factors in Greene’s death, including neck compression, physical struggle and cocaine use. Perhaps the most significant hurdle to federal charges was the untimely death of Chris Hollingsworth, the trooper who was seen on the video repeatedly bashing Greene in the head with a flashlight and was later recorded by his own body camera calling a fellow officer and saying, “I beat the ever-living f— out of him.” Hollingsworth died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020, hours after he was told he would be fired over his actions in Greene’s death. The FBI even enhanced the video of the arrest in an ultimately inconclusive attempt to determine whether he had been pepper-sprayed after he was in custody, focusing on an exchange in which a deputy jeeringly said, “S— hurts, doesn’t it?” But the federal investigation also included a lengthy focus on the state police brass suspected of obstructing justice by suppressing video evidence, quashing a detective’s recommendation to arrest a trooper and pressuring a state prosecutor.