“The family is still looking for an audience with (Governor) John Bel Edwards and (Louisiana Attorney General) Jeff Landry,” attorney Lee Merritt said. “The family is asking for able-bodied persons to come and stand for justice for Ronald Greene.”
On Wednesday night, Greene’s sister called on the governor and his team to “come together and do what’s right” and said the officers involved in her brother’s arrest should be held accountable.
“Something needs to happen right now,” Dinelle Hardin told CNN. “Not tomorrow. Not next week. We need action to be taken immediately.”
“I’m confident that a case for murder can be made, I’m confident that a case for a civil rights violation for all of these officers can be made,” Haley said. “However, I have waning confidence on whether or not that’s going to happen because we’ve seen this movie over and over again.”
At an unrelated news conference this week, the governor said he was disturbed by the videos of the encounter, adding “they don’t represent what we aspire to in the state of Louisiana at the Louisiana State Police.”
Trooper will be fired for unrelated case
The dismissal is pending official paperwork, the official said, but did not provide details of the other case.
Kory York, another trooper involved in the incident, was disciplined by state police for his role in Greene’s death, the official said, adding York is awaiting the outcome of a federal review. York completed a 50-hour suspension and returned to duty pending the outcome of the review.
CNN has reached out to an attorney for DeMoss but has not heard back. York’s attorney, Jay Adams, told CNN last Wednesday they had no comment on the pending litigation.
The newly released footage from the state comes from cameras that were used by Lt. John Clary, Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, York and DeMoss, who are White.
Hollingsworth was set to be terminated for violations regarding body-worn camera and car camera systems, use of force, performance, lawful orders and for conduct unbecoming an officer, but he died in a car crash before he could be fired, Superintendent of Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis said last week.
Police: senior officer did not initially report footage
Clary, a senior officer who came to the scene of Greene’s arrest, did not initially report his camera footage in the evidence submitted to District Attorney John Belton, a Louisiana State Police spokesperson said.
Clary was not part of the initial police chase and did not initially report being part of the use of force incident, Louisiana State Police Capt. Nick Manale said.
Videos from Clary’s body camera show troopers still holding Greene to the ground, Greene moaning, and troopers explaining their decision not to set Greene upright for fear he would spit blood on them.
“Internal reviews are currently ongoing to determine why those videos were not identified during the original criminal investigation,” Manale said.
CNN’s previous attempts to reach Clary were not successful and an attorney listed for him in a lawsuit didn’t respond to a request for comment.
‘It’s really sick’
Mona Hardin, Greene’s mother, said the videos show “clear, straight-out murder.”
“It’s really sick what you see here,” she told CNN on Wednesday. “These people with badges, killing and torturing my son.”
The videos released by state police depict parts of the chase as troopers pursued Greene’s car and tense radio transmissions can be heard describing what was happening but at no point in any of the videos are images of Greene’s car visible.
Attempts to pull Greene from his vehicle are seen and heard.
“OK, OK, OK officer — Lord Jesus,” is heard and a Taser is seen going off while Greene is in the car.
Almost four minutes pass from the moment troopers open Greene’s car door until he’s fully handcuffed. Taser prongs still embedded in Greene’s skin are visible as his shirt lifts up while troopers curse and wrestle to pull his arms behind his back.
One camera depicting the scene was over 46 minutes long. A little after 22 minutes into the video, the audio goes silent. Later, from another camera, EMS arrival can be seen and Greene appears limp.
Audio from Hollingsworth’s body camera has a telephone exchange inside his patrol vehicle as he’s leaving the scene and he says Greene was drunk.
“And I beat the ever-living f*** out of him, choked him and everything else trying to get him under control and we finally got him in handcuffs,” Hollingsworth said in the video.
He adds Greene “was still fighting and we was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down because he was spitting blood everywhere.”
“And then all of a sudden he just went limp,” Hollingsworth said.
According to the LSP’s initial report of Greene’s death, he was taken into custody after “resisting arrest and a struggle with Troopers.” The report said Greene died while on route to the hospital.
CNN’s Ryan Young, Dave Alsup, Aya Elamroussi, Eric Levenson, Jason Morris contributed to this report.