Louisiana trooper initially charged in connection with Ronald Greene’s death is being reinstated to active duty

By Nick Valencia, CNN

(CNN) — A veteran Louisiana State Police trooper who initially was charged in connection with the 2019 arrest, beating and death of Black motorist Ronald Greene will be reinstated this week, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday.

Lt. John Clary, the ranking trooper at the scene, “will be reinstated to active duty effective this week,” state police spokesperson Nick Manale said. Prosecutors dropped charges against Clary earlier this year, a source familiar with the case confirmed Tuesday to CNN on condition of anonymity.

Clary was alleged to have withheld body-camera video of the confrontation that preceded Greene’s death. The video, first published by the Associated Press as the result of a leak and then released by the state police in May 2021, shows Greene being beaten by police, including being dragged, Tasered and assaulted with a baton in May 2019 after what police said was a chase and car crash outside the city of Monroe.

Clary and four other law enforcement officers initially were indicted in Union Parish on state charges relating to Greene’s death in December 2022. Clary, charged with obstruction of justice and malfeasance of office, was “placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the legal proceedings,” Louisiana State Police Superintendent Lamar Davis said at the time.

In return for the charges against Clary being dropped this year, Clary agreed to testify against former colleague Kory York, the source familiar with the case told CNN. York is was charged with negligent homicide and malfeasance in office.

Before the 2022 indictment, state police told CNN that after an internal investigation Clary was not disciplined due to insufficient evidence to prove or disprove the allegation that he intentionally withheld video evidence.

York and former Union Parish Deputy Chris Harpin are the only two of the five law enforcement officers indicted last year in Greene’s death who still face charges.

The charges against former state troopers John Peters and DaKota DeMoss – obstruction of justice – were quashed in a July ruling by District Court Judge Thomas W. Rogers.

CNN has sought comment from the Union Parish district attorney about Clary’s reinstatement and the status of the cases against Harpin and York.

What we know about Greene’s death

Greene, 49, died in May 2019 after a confrontation in which police said Greene was resisting arrest and struggling with troopers. That came, police said, after officers tried to stop him over an alleged traffic violation, and Greene led them on a chase and crashed his car.

His family has said it initially was told Greene died on impact in the crash.

Body and dashboard camera videos show Greene being pulled from his vehicle after the crash and being Tasered, and a trooper wrestling with him on the ground.

Video also shows a trooper punching him in the face and another punching his lower back while they try to handcuff him as he is lying face down. Audio from one trooper’s body camera reveals a telephone exchange after the beating, in which the trooper says, “I beat the ever-living f*** out of him, choked him and everything else trying to get him under control.”

An initial crash report from state police did not mention troopers using force against or arresting Greene.

A 2019 autopsy report listed a controversial medical term as a cause of death – “cocaine induced agitated delirium” – and said the cause was complicated by “motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury, and restraint.”

But a forensic pathologist altered the cause – including by removing the delirium and the mention of a car collision – in a November 2021 supplemental report after she examined information that her lab didn’t have two years earlier, including videos from the scene and a crash report.

The 2021 amended report says the cause of death is “best classified as: complications of cocaine use, conducted electrical weapon application, physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt force injury, and neck compression,” and that the extent that each factor contributed couldn’t be stated with medical certainty.

The 2021 report, produced by a pathologist who also conducted the 2019 autopsy at an Arkansas state crime lab, came at the request of the FBI, which provided the scene videos and reports that the Arkansas lab didn’t have initially. A manner of death (accidental, homicide, natural causes, suicide or undetermined) did not appear on either the 2019 autopsy or the 2021 supplemental report.

The troopers have maintained that Greene’s death “was caused by crash-related blunt force chest trauma that resulted in a fractured sternum and ruptured aorta” and said they used force “for their own personal safety and for the safety of the public,” according to court documents.

As for the differences between the 2019 autopsy and the 2021 supplement:

• “Agitated delirium” was listed in the cause of death in 2019 because of “the original description of events,” but “review of the subsequently provided video footage does not support that statement,” the 2021 supplemental report reads.

• The 2021 report added neck compression to the factors “in light of video footage indicating likely neck compression, hemorrhage identified in the anterior neck musculature, and lack of documented medical care likely to cause such hemorrhage,” the supplement reads. The report does not indicate how or when the neck compression happened.

• Blunt force injury to the thorax is “most likely due to resuscitative efforts,” and aortic and liver lacerations could have been caused by an external compression device, the 2021 supplement says. “Review of the video, as well as the … crash reconstruction report, does not support blunt force injury due to motor vehicle collision,” the 2021 report says.

Both reports indicated that lacerations on Greene’s head were not caused by motor vehicle collision. The 2019 report said the lacerations were “most consistent with multiple impact sites from a blunt object,” and the 2021 report said that the blunt force injury on his head “is due to physical infliction by an object.”

CNN has sought comment from the pathologist who signed the 2021 supplemental autopsy report, Dr. Jennifer Forsyth, but has not heard back.

“Cocaine induced agitated delirium” is a rare condition, according to researchers, and one of the conditions of “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis that is not recognized by major medical organizations like the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association or the World Health Organization. It is, however, recognized by smaller organizations that deal with emergency medicine, such as the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Family has sought federal investigation

In August, Greene’s family called for a federal civil rights investigation into the actions of the officers.

Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, told reporters at a news conference in Farmerville, Louisiana, of her son’s “beautiful face” and “smile” and how loving he was.

“I remember his first day on this earth and I also saw the video and I saw his very last. And the ugliness that Louisiana did, without hesitation. How they meant to kill my son,” she said. “While he was still behind the steering wheel, he was Tased. He stood no chance.”

Hardin said it took several years to get indictments against the officers involved in her son’s arrest and she urged the Department of Justice to pursue a federal case.

“We need the DOJ to come in here because we’re four plus in. It took three plus years just to get these indictments, you know, and we need it now,” she said.

This story has been updated with details of the autopsy’s 2021 supplemental report.

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