Louisiana Trooper Caught Bragging About Fatally Beating Black Man
Ronald Greene’s family would never know just how he died if a Louisiana State Trooper had not bragged about what happened.
Master Trooper Christoper Hollingsworth was captured last year on the microphone of his body-camera bragging about beating and choking Greene before “all of a sudden he just went limp,” according to The Associated Press, which obtained a 27-second audio clip of the fatal encounter.
Troopers initially blamed Greene’s death on injuries from a car crash at the end of a chase in May 2019. But now the case is at the heart of a federal civil rights investigation and mounting calls for investigative authorities to release the full body-cam video, the report says.
Hollingsworth, who died last week in a single-car crash, can be heard on the audio recounting the assault of Greene in rural north Louisiana on audio given to The AP through an unidentified source because the case is under investigation.
Two law enforcement officials familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the authenticity of the audio, and NBC News also obtained a copy of the audio file.
“Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control,” Hollingsworth is heard saying, apparently in his part of a phone conversation with a colleague.
“We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there, and the son of a b----- was still fighting him, was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down,” he said. “He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden he just went limp.”
Eugene Collins, president of the Baton Rouge branch of the NAACP, described Hollingsworth’s remarks as “disgusting and morally bankrupt.” He also raised questions about other law enforcement officials involved in the incident.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards pledged last week that footage of Greene’s arrest would be made public at the end of the state and federal investigations.
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