Federal authorities released the findings of an investigation Thursday that revealed a pattern of unlawful conduct within the Louisiana State Police, including troopers’ use of excessive force, lack of accountability and other problems in “every corner of the state.”

The U.S. Department of Justice review was prompted by the May 2019 killing of Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old Black man, in police custody. He died while handcuffed and shackled face down on the side of a highway, pleading with the troopers and local deputy who beat him following a vehicle pursuit near Monroe. 

Department of Justice investigators found systemic problems from a culture of aggression, “unchecked misconduct” and unusual tactics within State Police that encourage troopers to escalate interactions with citizens. These problems and others contribute to a pattern or practice of excessive force that violates the constitutional rights of citizens, according to a report from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. 

The report details the findings of what is called a “pattern or practice” investigation, which federal authorities use to identify the root causes of problems in local or state law enforcement agencies plagued by repeated scandals and allegations of unconstitutional behavior. 

The state’s Republican leaders have already begun pushing back against the findings. Both Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a joint statement Thursday, claiming the Justice Department report is “old news from the previous administration” and an attempt to “advance a political agenda.” They did not specify what that agenda is.  

Louisiana State Police, whose superintendent is a governor’s appointee, has not responded to the report. In an emailed response Friday, LSP spokesperson Capt. Nick Manale deferred questions to the governor and attorney general. 

Members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, along with the ACLU, requested the DOJ probe in 2021 following a series of high-profile beatings of Black motorists and alleged coverups within LSP such as the Ronald Greene case.

Body camera and dashboard camera footage showed the white troopers beat Greene, dragged him by ankle shackles, shocked him with Tasers and left him face down in the road. When Greene tried to roll onto his side, a trooper placed his boot on his back and forced him back down. None of the troopers or sheriff’s deputies on the scene rendered aid when Greene became unresponsive and died before an ambulance arrived. 

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Some of the troopers then mislabeled the video evidence and misdated their reports, concealing their actions and delaying any internal accountability for more than a year.  During that time period, one of the troopers involved in Greene’s death “would go on to assault more drivers,” according to the report. The Justice Department did not name the trooper. Former LSP trooper Dakota DeMoss, who was involved in Greene’s death, faced charges in a separate excessive force case in 2021. 

However, despite its findings, the Justice Department opted to bring no federal charges against any of the officers involved in the Ronald Greene case. Additionally, local prosecutors in Union Parish fumbled the cases it brought against each of the officers, allowing all of them to either go free or plead to misdemeanors. 

The latest of those occurred this week when federal authorities told Greene’s family they would no longer be pursuing charges in the case. A day later, Union Parish Deputy Chris Harpin pleaded no contest to a state charge of simple battery. He received a sentence of supervised probation. In a similar move last year, former LSP Trooper Kory York pleaded no contest to simple battery and also received probation. 

The Justice Department reviewed many other incidents in which troopers displayed similar misconduct and violated the rights of drivers. The investigators found that Louisiana State Police reported more than 1,300 uses of force from 2018 to 2023. They reviewed every LSP shooting and hundreds of other randomly selected force incidents from that time period. 

“We found that LSP troopers across the state use excessive force,” the report states. “We found LSP’s use of Tasers particularly concerning.”

Those concerns included troopers’ tendency to quickly escalate the use of excessive force “within the first few moments of encountering a person” and without warning them or giving them a chance to comply with verbal commands. The troopers also use force on many who are restrained or unable to flee and pose no threat, the report states.  

In one such incident, an LSP trooper stunned an unarmed man in the back with a Taser while he was lying face down, surrounded by at least five officers.

“The driver did not pose an immediate threat to anyone’s safety, was not armed, did not actively resist arrest, and did not attempt to run,” the report states.

In another incident, a trooper fired 15 bullets from his handgun at a car that got stuck in the mud. Other officers at the scene then joined in on the shooting. 

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One trooper said, “He has no tires, he ain’t going nowhere,” then fired 19 more bullets at the car from his rifle. Together, they fired a total of 61 bullets at the disabled car and then finally dragged the driver out through a broken window. The driver sustained cuts but was not shot. 

The review also found troopers are quick to draw their service weapons to deal with seemingly small annoyances. In one case, a trooper conducted a traffic stop on a car for improper lane usage, and even though the driver immediately pulled over, the trooper yelled at him to step out. About 10 seconds later, the trooper walked up to the driver’s window, which was rolled down, and placed his gun a few inches from the back of the driver’s head. He then opened the door, dragged the driver out of the car and slammed him onto the pavement. 

Prior to 2022, the State Police Training Academy used a military-style bootcamp approach to training new cadets that was designed to instill stress and to establish a “warrior mindset,” the report states. Policing experts LSP hired to evaluate the agency found it created an adverse learning environment in which “troopers were primed to view everyone as a potential threat.” 

The Justice Department also found that State Police does not conduct meaningful internal investigations when legitimate complaints are made. The agency’s internal affairs division either refuses to open investigations, minimizes the misconduct, and clears troopers or reduces discipline without any explanation, the report states. 

The DOJ report recommends a series of reforms to State Police training, tactics, policies and accountability mechanisms, though LSP is under no obligation to follow the recommendations.