U.S. Won’t Bring Charges Against Officers in Death of Ronald Greene

Investigators found insufficient evidence to federally charge the surviving officers in the encounter, in which a Black driver was pulled over, dragged, beaten and shocked.

The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges in the 2019 death of Ronald Greene, a Black driver who was pulled over and beaten by the police in Louisiana, officials said Tuesday, bringing an end to a yearslong federal criminal investigation.

It was the last criminal inquiry into the officers who punched and shocked Mr. Greene, 49, whom the police pursued because of a traffic violation in May 2019.

The Justice Department “found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges against surviving Louisiana State Police troopers and officials involved in the incident or its aftermath,” a department spokesperson said. The primary trooper involved in the matter, Chris Hollingsworth, who was placed on administrative leave in 2020, died in a single-vehicle car crash that year.

Dinelle Hardin, Mr. Greene’s sister, said that the Justice Department “failed to protect the citizens of Louisiana” in their decision to not bring criminal charges.

“I’m not surprised by the outcome,” said Ms. Hardin, adding that she felt “this was the one time we could have possibly gotten some type of change” when it comes to the state’s police.

Mr. Greene’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court in 2020. It is still pending.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Louisiana announced in January 2022 that there was an “open and ongoing criminal investigation.” Months later, the Justice Department began a civil investigation into the Louisiana State Police to assess whether its officers had used excessive force or racially discriminatory policing. Federal investigators have not yet released their findings from the civil investigation.

The Louisiana State Police declined to comment on either investigation on Tuesday.

The family of Mr. Greene was initially told that he had died from injuries he sustained in a crash on May 10, 2019. The Union Parish coroner ruled his death accidental from cardiac arrest and made no mention of the struggle with police.

But Mr. Greene’s family later commissioned an autopsy that found he had suffered injuries to his skull and face.

Two years after Mr. Greene’s death, body camera footage of the encounter in Union Parish, La., obtained and released by The A.P., showed that police officers had pulled Mr. Greene out of his S.U.V. and had wrestled him to the ground. They continued to beat him and shock him with a stun gun while he repeatedly said, “I’m sorry” and “I’m scared.” At one point, an officer dragged Mr. Greene by his ankles while he was face down and handcuffed.

State criminal charges were eventually brought against five law enforcement officers in 2022.

Last year, Kory York, a Louisiana state trooper, pleaded no contest to eight counts of misdemeanor battery and was placed on probation for one year. He had initially faced charges of negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office in Mr. Greene’s death.

Three other officers involved in the episode had their charges dismissed, The A.P. reported. The Louisiana State Police said in October that it no longer employed any of the troopers involved in the case.

In the last state criminal case, Christopher Harpin, a deputy at the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office was charged with three counts of malfeasance in office. It is still pending.

John Belton, the district attorney for the Third Judicial District of Louisiana, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Glenn Thrush and Jesus Jiménez contributed reporting.