By Antonio Planas - NBC News
Three former police officers said the 2019 death of Ronald Greene, following an arrest in which he received
electric shocks with a
taser
, as well as being beaten and dragged by
Louisiana
state troopers
, is one of the worst cases of excessive force ever. have seen and the latest example of brutality captured on video, eroding the public's trust in law enforcement.
The video showing Greene, 49, a black man from Monroe, Louisiana, being beaten by white police officers who dragged him,
strangled him and left him lying on the ground, without medical assistance, for about nine minutes
this was released. week, two years after the arrest.
The Associated Press (AP) published the images of the body cameras of the agents who participated in the incident that occurred on May 10, 2019, after Greene tried to escape from the police in a high-speed chase that exceeded the speed of 100 miles per hour (about 160 kilometers per hour).
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"It was literally torture," said David Thomas, a professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University who worked for 20 years as a police officer in Michigan and Florida.
"
There was no respect for his humanity
... As a black man, I am torn between what I know a good police officer should be and what this profession is doing to my community."
The AP on Friday released additional images of Greene's arrest and details about his autopsy, which found high levels of cocaine and alcohol in his body.
Greene
also suffered a torn aorta and had a broken sternum.
The autopsy established that the cause of his death was "agitated cocaine-induced delirium, in addition to complications from a motor vehicle collision, physical fighting, head injury and restraint."
He did not specify the manner of death.
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Delusions "agitated" or "excited" are terms that are often used to describe victims in cases of excessive use of force by police, but are not accepted as real conditions by the American Medical Association and the Psychiatric Association American.
The latter association said in a statement that "'excited delirium' is too unspecific to describe and convey information about a person's state in a meaningful way."
Louisiana authorities released nine videos of the chase Friday night that led to Greene's arrest and violent detention.
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"I want the public to move toward a healing process," said Lamar A. Davis, the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, at a news conference announcing the release of the evidence.
“
This has been a tragic event.
When we see Mr. Greene's family and everything they are going through, I do not want this to continue to resurface and revive old wounds.
At first, the state police argued that the use of force by the police officers was justified - "terrible but legal," as some high-ranking officials described it - and
an administrative investigation was not opened until 474 days after the arrest. Greene's death.
On Friday, when asked if Greene should be alive, Davis said he could not comment on it because there were extenuating circumstances, he was not in the incident and he is not a medical professional.
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The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into the arrest and works with prosecutors for the Western District of Louisiana and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
Greene, a hairdresser, failed to stop for an unspecified traffic violation while driving a pickup truck on a rural highway south of the Arkansas border.
The recently released video captured an unidentified police officer saying the man "ran a red light very badly" at the start of the chase.
High-speed chases often get officers' adrenaline pumping, which can lead to excessive use of force, said Keith Taylor, who spent 23 years in the New York Police Department (NYPD). for its acronym in English).
But that's not an excuse, he said.
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“
The main duty of the officers is to preserve life.
That's the first thing they have to do, and that includes the people they arrest, ”he said.
"Just because someone did something terribly wrong doesn't mean it's an opportunity or an excuse to brutalize them."
Taylor, who was a third-generation black officer in the NYPD, ran for the Harlem city council and is an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.
Footage from Greene's arrest shows that "we have a lot of work to do to improve the way police respond to difficult situations," Taylor said.
The video shows Greene groaning, face down on the ground for more than nine minutes, as police officers use disinfectant wipes to wipe blood from his hands and face.
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"I hope this guy doesn't have ... AIDS,"
a policeman is heard saying.
"I'm afraid.
I'm scared, ”Greene shouted in the images obtained by the AP.
Already handcuffed, Greene tried to turn around but was ordered to remain face down.
Ronald Janota, a retired Illinois State Police lieutenant colonel, called Greene's arrest "gruesome."
Janota asserts that he should not have been ordered to lie face down because that can cause suffocation.
"It makes me sick," he
said.
"I've never seen anything like this."
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Janota, who often testifies "for and against the police," said the video of Greene's arrest will only worsen public confidence and hurt the Louisiana State Police.
"It
erodes the trust of the public
and will corrupt the police department itself," Janota said.
"If they don't discipline these things right away, they basically tolerate unacceptable behavior."
At least six police officers responded to the arrest, but not all had their body cameras turned on.
At first, officers told Greene's family that the man died after crashing his truck into a tree during the chase.
Subsequently, the police have acknowledged that Greene fought with the police and died on the way to the hospital.
Chris Hollingsworth, who was involved in Greene's arrest,
died in a road accident that occurred hours after he learned that he would be fired
for his role in the case.
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Video released by state police on Friday reflects what the AP reported about Hollingsworth - that it was recorded by his own body camera as he described the violence of that night's arrest.
The new videos show that he made a loudspeaker call in his police vehicle after the arrest.
"Well this guy was drunk and I think he was wet," he said.
“I beat him up.
I strangled him and everything else trying to keep him under control. "
He added: “We finally handcuffed him when a third agent arrived, and the son of a bitch was still fighting.
As we struggled with him trying to hold him down because he was spitting blood everywhere, he suddenly went limp. "
"Damn it," said the voice on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, I thought he was dead," Hollingsworth said.
In some shots of the video of his body camera you can see a cross hanging from the rear view mirror of his patrol.
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On Friday, authorities said Officer Dakota DeMoss had already been notified of the department's intention to fire him.
Meanwhile, he is on leave pending the conclusion of disciplinary hearings related to another "investigation into the use of force," state police officials said.
Authorities also said Officer Kory York served a 50-hour suspension.
DeMoss and York could not be reached on Friday night.
Davis, who took over as superintendent of the state police in October, said the officers involved in Greene's arrest deserve due process, but his department is
"implementing policies to ensure this does not happen again."
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He said he named a new commander in Troop F, whose agents were involved in Greene's arrest.
Greene's mother, Mona Hardin, has said her son had no chance of survival.
"He was murdered.
They fixed it, that's how it was planned, ”Hardin said Wednesday.
“He didn't have a chance.
Ronnie didn't have a chance.
I was not going to live to tell the tale
”.
One of Greene's family attorneys, Lee Merritt, said the footage "shows some of the
hallmarks of the George Floyd video, the length, the sheer brutality
."
"He apologized while trying to give up," Merritt said.
With information from AP
