I assure you that we are making significant change, Davissaid at a news conference Friday evening. We have made significant change, and we will continue to make significant change throughout our agency.
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The footage newly uploaded to YouTube represents all of the state polices video from the incident, officials said. It includes body-camera as well as some in-car camera footage from four state troopers: Kory York, John Clary, Dakota DeMoss and Chris Hollingsworth, who died last fall. Lawyers for Greenes family have also called for the arrest of officer Floyd McElroy, as the Justice Department investigates.
We have been in close contact with FBI and we expect federal indictments to happen soon, Lee Merritt, an attorney for Greenes family, said in a Friday night statement to The Washington Post. The Greene family has waited long enough for justice.
The partial video released this week by the AP showed Greene wailing and saying Im sorry! as troopers violently arrest him, deploying a stun gun after appearing to raise his hands inside his car. Troopers later punch Greene in the face, drag him briefly by his shackled ankles and leave him to moan unattendedwhile handcuffed for more than nine minutes, the AP reported.
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Im scared! Im scared! Im scared! the 49-year-old yelled while bent over in the front seat. Im your brother. Im scared!
Body-cam video shows Louisiana troopers stunned, hit and dragged Black man before his death
Medics soon found Greene unresponsive, according to his familys wrongful death lawsuit, and he was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at a hospital.
Davis said state police had intended to make the videos public at the proper time; police previously said an unauthorized release compromised a fair and impartial outcome.
Davis said he could not speak to whether Greene should be alive today. He said he hopes the community can start a healing process but declined Friday to comment to reporterson troopers conduct while state and federal authorities investigate.
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Asked about the APs reporting that state police withheld basic records related to Greenes arrest from the medical examiner including police reports and emergency medical information Davis said he could not discuss the matter.
I really dont know why or when, Davis said. I would have to look at that.
A long-hidden autopsy attributed Greenes death to cocaine induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury and restraint, according to the AP.
Lawyers for the troopers involved in the arrest have previously either declined to comment or not responded to The Post. State police said they intend to fire DeMoss, who is on leave and faces charges in the alleged beating of another Black driver.
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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Friday that he supported the release of all the footage in state polices possession and found the video, which he watched last year, to be disturbing.
Troopers filmed with Greene appear to be White, and the AP describes them as White.
Greene was driving his silver Toyota along a highway in Monroe, La., about midnight on May 10, 2019, according to his familys lawsuit. Body-cam video shows trooper DeMoss chasing Greene down a highwayat well over 100 mph.
We got to do something, DeMoss says over his radio just before police catch up with Greene. Hes going to kill somebody.
DeMoss has said he tried to stop Greene after observing an unspecified traffic violation, the lawsuit from Greenes family states. It says Greene eventually swerved and crashed into a wooded area but did not hit a tree and was able to leave the car on his own.
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Greene putsat least one hand up inside his car as troopers approach and shout with expletives, Let me see your hands! He recoils and pleads with police as they shock him while he is still inside the car.
Troopers get Greene on the ground and struggle with him, with one man saying Greene is grabbing him. But they use force even when Greene is apparently restrained and compliant.
In another video first obtained by the AP, an officer beratesGreene for trying to change positions as he lies on his stomach, restrained and unattended at times.
Dont you turn over! Lay on your belly! Lay on your belly! a trooper yells, briefly dragging Greene by his shackled ankles and then kneeling on the mans back.
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You better lay on your belly like I told you to! he orders. You understand?
Yes, sir! Greene cries. Okay, okay, sir!
Experts have stressed the dangers of leaving a restrained person in a prone position that could impede their breathing an issue spotlighted this year in the murder trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyds neck.
Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control, Hollingsworth said.He described a prolonged struggle with Greene, who he said was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden just went limp.
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The lawsuit filed by Greenes family says police initially told loved ones Greene died in a car crash; in fact, the lawsuit alleges, excessive force left Greene beaten, bloodied, and in cardiac arrest.
Police pointed Friday to local news articles from the day Greene died that said he became combative with officers and was handcuffed after a struggle, according to authorities.
The criminal investigations division in Monroe reviewed the incident and submitted materials in August of 2019 to prosecutors in Lincoln Parish, according to a timeline released Friday by state police. In February 2020, police said, they provided a case file to the Justice Department. Then, more than a year after Greenes death, an administrative investigation into troopers use of force began.
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DeMoss got a letter of counseling and a letter of reprimand, according to the state police. He was found to have violated rules on courtesy and body-worn or car cameras, officials said.
York was found to have violated rules on body-worn cameras and treatment of people in custody and got a 50-hour suspension. He has returned to active duty pending the outcome of the review by federal and state authorities, state police said.
Hollingsworth was set to be fired last fall, but died in a single-vehicle crash shortly after learning his intended punishment, the AP reported.
Critics have cast Greenes death as part of systemic issues in the Louisiana State Police and their treatment of people of color. Court filings recently drew new attentionto DeMoss and other troopers roles in the alleged beating of 29-year-old Antonio Harris.
Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, told The Post this week that she wants the Justice Department to investigate the Louisiana State Police and Troop F.
Odoms said of the body camera footage: It provides to the public in the same way that the George Floyd video did the necessary kind of tangible and frankly gruesome and infuriating kind of proof of what our community members have known inherently and anecdotally for too long.
Davis defended the Louisiana State Police as a whole on Friday, echoing other police leaders references to bad apples.
While we may have a few bad actors, its our job and its my job to hold them accountable, Davis said.