Louisiana officers charged in Black motorist’s deadly arrest

By JIM MUSTIAN and JAKE BLEIBERG
Associated Press

FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) — Five Louisiana law enforcement officers have been charged with state crimes for their roles in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene. The charges range from negligent homicide to malfeasance. They were handed down by a grand jury on Thursday. Police had initially blamed the Black motorist’s death on a car crash at the end of a high-speed chase in rural northeast Louisiana. But The Associated Press obtained and published long-suppressed body-camera video that showed white officers beating, stunning and dragging Greene as he pleaded for mercy and wailed, “I’m scared!” These are the first charges to emerge from Greene’s death. They follow yearslong investigations that have expanded to examine whether police brass concealed evidence of troopers beating other Black motorists.