NATIONAL NEWS

Louisiana judge tosses some charges against officers in deadly arrest of Black driver Ronald Greene

Jul 11, 2023, 10:49 AM

FILE - This image from the body camera of Louisiana State Police Trooper Dakota DeMoss shows his co...

FILE - This image from the body camera of Louisiana State Police Trooper Dakota DeMoss shows his colleagues, Kory York, center left, and Chris Hollingsworth, center right, holding up Ronald Greene before paramedics arrived on May 10, 2019, outside of Monroe, La. In July 2023, a state judge has thrown out obstruction of justice charges against DeMoss and York, two of the five Louisiana lawmen indicted in the fatal arrest of Greene. Authorities initially blamed his death on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed the white officers beating, stunning and dragging the Black motorist. (Louisiana State Police via AP, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Louisiana State Police via AP, File)

A state judge has thrown out obstruction of justice charges against two of the five Louisiana lawmen indicted in the fatal 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a death authorities initially blamed on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed the white officers beating, stunning and dragging the Black motorist as he wailed, “I’m scared!”

While the rulings this week marked a setback for the prosecution, the judge let stand several other felony charges and did not address the most serious charge of negligent homicide against Master Trooper Kory York, who was seen in the graphic footage dragging Greene by his ankle shackles and leaving the heavyset man face down in the dirt for more than nine minutes.

Still, Judge Thomas Rogers threatened to toss several felony malfeasance counts against York and two other officers unless prosecutors this week correct certain “defects” in the language of the indictment — dismissals that would effectively gut the case.

“It was clear they didn’t do their homework,” Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, said of prosecutors led by District Attorney John Belton. “What we’re seeing is a whittling away of Ronnie’s case. It’s a debacle.”

Belton declined to comment. It was not clear whether prosecutors would appeal the rulings.

Greene’s May 10, 2019, death on a roadside in rural northeastern Louisiana was initially blamed by the Louisiana State Police on a car crash at the end a high-speed chase. After officials refused for more than two years to release the body-camera video, the AP obtained and published the footage showing white troopers converging on Greene before he could get out of his car.

The officers have vigorously fought the charges since their December indictment, arguing in part that prosecutors failed to specify exactly how they broke the law.

Rogers ruled that the allegations failed to support obstruction charges against Dakota DeMoss, a responding trooper who turned off the audio on his body camera for much of Greene’s arrest, as well as Capt. John Peters, a regional troop commander at the time accused of telling detectives to conceal evidence in Greene’s case. The judge found neither officer’s actions amounted to “tampering” under Louisiana law.

DeMoss’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Peters told the AP he was looking forward to “the entire truth finally being placed on the table.”

But Rogers let stand an obstruction of justice charge against Lt. John Clary, the ranking officer on the scene of Greene’s arrest who is accused of withholding his bodycam footage from investigators. Clary’s long-suppressed, 30-minute footage is the only clip showing the moment a handcuffed, bloody Greene moans under the weight of two troopers, twitches and then goes still.

Greene’s death remains the focus of a yearslong federal criminal probe, and the U.S. Justice Department last year opened a sweeping civil rights investigation into the Louisiana State Police amid evidence that the agency has displayed a pattern of looking the other way in the face of beatings of mostly Black men.

___

For more AP coverage of the death of Ronald Greene: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-ronald-greene

National News

Associated Press

Bear with 3 cubs attacks man after breaking into Colorado home

LAKE CITY, Colo. (AP) — A black bear with three cubs attacked a man in his Colorado home after they crashed in through a sliding glass door and he was unable to get them to leave. State wildlife managers killed all four bears after the attack Thursday night in Lake City, a southwestern Colorado town […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Authorities are investigating after a Frontier Airlines plane lands with fire in one engine

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal authorities said Sunday that they are investigating the emergency landing of a Frontier Airlines plane in Las Vegas. The Federal Aviation Administration said Frontier Flight 1326 from San Diego with 190 passengers aboard was in the process of landing Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport when the […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Minnesota man arrested after allegedly threatening to ‘shoot up’ synagogue

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly threatening to “shoot up” a Minneapolis synagogue, officials announced on Saturday. Staff at Temple Israel reported to the Minneapolis Police Department on Sept. 11 that they had received several phone calls from a person threatening to “shoot up” the synagogue. Then on Thursday, a special […]

5 hours ago

Associated Press

Tropical Storm Milton could hit Florida as a major hurricane midweek

MIAMI (AP) — People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Milton, for now just a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico, could intensify rapidly into a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. “There is increasing confidence that a powerful hurricane with life-threatening hazards will be affecting portions of the […]

9 hours ago

A makeshift cardboard sign leans up against campaign posters near a relief center on Thursday, Oct....

Associated Press

Voters in North Carolina and Georgia have bigger problems than politics. Helene changed everything

VILAS, N.C. (AP) — Brad Farrington pulls over to grab a case of water bottles being passed out in Vilas, a small rural community tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He’s on his way to help a friend who lost much of what he owned when Hurricane Helene blew through last weekend. His friend, […]

9 hours ago

Associated Press

Top US trade official sees progress in helping workers. Voters will decide if her approach continues

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai is ballot in November. Voters are essentially being asked to decide whether it is best to work with the rest of the world or threaten it. Do they favor pursuing worker protections in trade talks, as Tai has done on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration? […]

10 hours ago

Louisiana judge tosses some charges against officers in deadly arrest of Black driver Ronald Greene