AP
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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.

The move coming just a month before Kory York’s trial marks only the latest withering of a case that began in 2022 with five officers indicted on a range of charges over the stunning, punching and pepper-spraying of Greene following a high-speed chase.

Now, only two still face charges, multiple felony malfeasance counts against York and another officer, all but eliminating the chance that anyone will face significant prison time in a death troopers initially blamed on a car crash.

“This whole thing started with a lie and a coverup and it’s going to end the same way,” a furious Mona Hardin told The Associated Press when told of the latest dropped charge in her son’s death.

“You have so much evidence yet no one wants to be the one pointing the finger against killer cops,” she said through tears. “They killed my son and no one gives a rat’s ass.”

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.

“It’s clear to me that the case should never have been indicted,” said York attorney Mike Small, adding he seeks full exoneration of his client at his October 28 trial. “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 sparked national outrage and was among several beatings of Black men by Louisiana troopers that prompted the US Justice Department to open an ongoing civil rights investigation into the state police.

But the latest dismissal underscores a weakness in the case that has also discouraged the Justice Department from pursuing charges: After years of investigating, federal and state authorities failed to pinpoint what, exactly, caused Greene’s death during the arrest.

State prosecutors were long skeptical the negligent homicide charge would hold up in the face of autopsy reports that cited “complications of cocaine use” among contributing factors to Greene’s death. Others included troopers’ repeated use of a stun gun, “physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and neck compression,” but the forensic pathologist in Arkansas who examined Greene declined to identify which factor or factors were most lethal.

The case has been shrouded in secrecy from its outset 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 questioned immediately by an emergency room doctor who noted Greene’s bruised, battered body. Still, a coroner’s report listed Greene’s cause of death as a motor vehicle accident, a state police crash report omitted any mention of troopers using any force and 462 days passed before the state police even launched an internal investigation.

All the while, officials from then-Gov. John Bel Edwards on down refused to release the body camera video of Greene’s arrest. That all changed in 2021 when AP obtained and published the long-suppressed footage showing troopers swarming Greene even as he appeared to raise his hands, plead for mercy and wail, “I’m your brother! I’m scared!”

Troopers repeatedly jolted him with stun guns before he could even get out of the car, with one wrestling him to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face.

One trooper struck Greene in the head with a flashlight and was recorded bragging that he “beat the ever-living f— out of him.” That trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, was widely considered the most culpable of the half-dozen officers involved but died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020 hours after he learned he would be fired.

York also played a prominent role in the arrest. He is seen on video pressing Greene’s 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.

Now she is questioning if that day will ever come.

“I hate that my son is one of countless others,” she said. “There’s a lot that could be fixed in Louisiana that will never be fixed because of choices like this.”

Baton Rouge’s Nancy Davis, center, speaks at microphones a news conference on the steps of the State Capitol, Friday, August 26, 2022, discussing the chain of events and potential legal action after a Baton Rouge hospital denied Davis, 36, an abortion for her fetus, which is developing without a skull. From left, background, are her fiance, Shedric Cole, and the well-known civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump.

The following has been provided by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana:

The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana was recently awarded $75,000 in grant funding for the Language & Cultural Revitalization Program’s Tunica-Biloxi Oral History Project. The oral history project is funded in part by the Tribal Heritage Grant program, through the Historic Preservation Fund, as administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior.

As part of the Tunica-Biloxi Oral History Project, the Language & Cultural Revitalization Program will develop an archival repository of oral histories, cultural workshops and traditional songs captured on digital video, audio and still photography so that all Tribal members have access to their history and culture.

“Grants such as this one from the National Park Service are fundamental in shaping the future of our tribe while also passing down our centuries of history and culture,” said Marshall Pierite, Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. “It’s our solemn vow to our ancestors to keep their legacy alive for generations of tribal citizens to come. As we advance toward a promising future, it is vital that our tribe’s Language & Cultural Revitalization Program receive the funding they need to emphasize that promise to those before us.”

The funding comes from a total of $623,077 in grants for 10 projects across the country, including Tunica-Biloxi’s. All projects will work to preserve historic properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, support comprehensive preservation planning, preserve oral history and cultural traditions, provide training for building a historic preservation program and support cultural and historic preservation interpretation and education.

Administered by the National Park Service, Historic Preservation Fund reserves may be appropriated by Congress to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources.

“The National Park Service is committed to preserving our cultural heritage and history across the country,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “These grants further that goal by helping American Indian Tribes and Native Alaskan and Hawaiian communities connect with the stories of their past.”

“With the advancement of both time and technology, we need to act now to safeguard our language and culture to cement our history indefinitely,” said John Barbry, Director of Development and Programming. “Grants like this one have a monumental impact on our department—allowing us to achieve our goals in ways we never imagined.

The Language & Revitalization Program was created to establish a structural support for language and culture education, striving to make the Tunica-Biloxi language present throughout the entire community and beyond. The department also keeps an extensive list of online resources to utilize in ongoing education and research of the tribe’s ethnography.

To learn more about the Tunica Biloxi Tribe, its language and culture offerings and more, visit https://www.tunicabiloxi.org/.

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