“I beat the ever-living fuck out of him,” said the Louisiana state trooper, describing the brutal beating of a man he claimed had died in a car crash.
“I choked him and everything else trying to get him under control.”
The 37-second audio clip from trooper’s Chris Hollingsworth body camera obtained by the Associated Press contradicts the initial claim that 39-year-old Ronald Greene had died in a car crash following a police chase in Northern Louisiana.
The incident took place on May 10 and began just after midnight after police claimed they tried to stop Greene for unknown reasons and he attempted to evade them, prompting a police pursuit through several parishes.
Police initially stated that Greene struck a tree causing injuries and went unconscious once medical responders arrived.
However, Greene’s family has challenged how he sustained his injuries in a wrongful death lawsuit and released photos of Greene’s vehicle showing minimal damage on vehicle as well as photos of Greene after he had died with various lacerations and bruises on his face and body.
The lawsuit was accompanied with a coroner’s report that documented bruises from blunt force trauma and flesh wounds from being tasered multiple times.
“We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there, and the son of a bitch was still fighting him, was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down. He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden he just went limp.” Hollingsworth said, describing the brutal arrest.
No use of force or arrest was mentioned in the police crash report recently obtained by the Associated Press, and while Louisiana State Police claim they opened an investigation into the crash hours after it occurred, Trooper Hollingworth was just put on administrative last month after an administrative investigation was initiated in August.
Greene will never be able to testify to what happened that night and while body camera video exists of the altercation, police have not released it citing an “ongoing investigation.”
In a twist of irony, Hollingworth will also never testify to what really took place as he died in a car crash this September just hours after learning that he would be fired for his part in Greene’s death.
While none of the other officers who participated in Greene’s death have been charged, more information about their participation is likely to surface as the Greene’s wrongful death lawsuit continues.
“Trooper Hollingsworth’s family has the finality of knowing exactly how he died as their community mourns his loss. Lee Merritt, an attorney representing the Greene’s family recently said. The family of Ronald Greene, however, is still being denied the same finality by the State of Louisiana.”
