CNN
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An annual audit of the Louisiana State Police decided that for a minimum of the previous 4 years the company ignored state auditors’ orders to maintain data of its gear, together with appropriately tagging property equivalent to cell telephones, in line with a state consultant who has shared the ultimate model of the report with CNN.
The findings observe allegations that the cell telephones of the state police’s second rating member, Lt. Col. Doug Cain, and two different state law enforcement officials have been erased after the 2019 dying of Ronald Greene whereas he was in police custody.
Cain testified final month earlier than a particular state legislative committee investigating Greene’s dying, saying he couldn’t remark when requested if his cellphone was sanitized within the wake of the incident.
Cain was positioned on administrative go away on April 8 because of the ongoing investigation into the sanitization of his cellphone, practically three years after the Black motorist’s dying. CNN affiliate WBRZ was first to report on the audit findings.
CNN has reached out to the Louisiana State Police for remark.
Greene died within the in a single day hours of Could 10, 2019, after an encounter that police initially described as a battle with officers throughout which Greene resisted arrest. Greene’s household, nonetheless, mentioned they have been informed he died in a automobile crash after a police chase, CNN has beforehand reported.
Greater than two years after the deadly encounter, physique digicam video confirmed Greene being tased, kicked and dragged by officers earlier than showing to turn into unresponsive.
Louisiana State Consultant C. Denise Marcelle, a Democrat who’s on the particular legislative committee and has seen the 2022 Louisiana Legislative Audit report, informed CNN it’s yet one more instance of the state police “appearing above the regulation.” She mentioned the committee plans to query two state troopers in regards to the report throughout an ongoing listening to and ask why the state police ignored the auditors’ findings.
The continued particular committee listening to is ready to renew Thursday.
Marcelle additionally informed CNN the committee, which was granted subpoena energy, lately subpoenaed a journal saved by former-Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Kevin Reeves throughout his tenure, however he has not complied with the order.
Reeves’ legal professional informed CNN he and the committee have been nonetheless within the strategy of figuring out what can be submitted into proof. “It’s due tomorrow,” legal professional Lewis Unglesby informed CNN about Reeves’ journal, including, “and we’re attempting to work out an settlement as to what precisely they need to see or are entitled to see.”
Final month, Triet Le, an IT specialist on the state police division, testified that former coworkers instructed him to not preserve data of state police property “if it’s below $1,000.” Le additionally testified that he was the one who sanitized the telephones, after Reeves, Cain and trooper Mike Noel turned them in.