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Trooper says he beat the f*** out of Black man in leaked audio recording

4 years 1 month 4 days ago Friday, October 02 2020 Oct 2, 2020 October 02, 2020 7:00 PM October 02, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- A leaked audio clip from the body camera of State Trooper Chris Hollingsworth paints the exact picture of how Ronald Greene died in Monroe 16 months ago.

Initially, the Greene family said State Police told them he died in a crash, but the pictures of his car and the damage show a fender bender.
The audio is hard to listen to and explains why State Police have withheld it from the public for the past 16 months.

"I beat the ever living f*** out of him," Hollingsworth said. "Choked him and everything else to get him under control. We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there. The son of b**** was still fighting and still wrestling with him trying to hold him down. He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden he went limp."

That audio is sparking new outrage and attorneys for Ronald Greene calling for Kevin Reeves to step down.

"Seventeen months they sat on this," Ron Haley, one of the attorneys for the Greene family said. "They had proof this was a cover-up and murder and did nothing about it."

Hollingsworth was placed on leave a few weeks ago, the day the WBRZ Investigative Unit submitted public records requests tied to the Greene case. Hollingsworth was issued termination papers two weeks later. He died hours after that in a crash that many have called a suicide.

The problems with the Greene case now coming to light nearly a year and a half later. Thursday, a history-making indictment occurred in Baton Rouge. Kasha Domingue was charged with felonies for shooting an unarmed 19-year-old in the back in 2018. She claimed he was charging at her, but evidence showed he was running away.

District Attorney Hillar Moore said the indictment would not have been possible without the investigative efforts of State Police. Questions are being raised if State Police had this information, why was Domingue left on the payroll for two years.

The problems mounted for State Police hours after Domingue's indictment. Colonel Kevin Reeves' son, Kaleb Reeves, killed two people responding to a call in the Monroe area. Sources said Reeves was at fault as he rear-ended another car. Two rear-seat passengers died. One of them was a child.

With so much going on, Greene's attorneys said it's time for State Police to address the issues.

"The fact that State Police had this evidence for 17 months and did nothing about it only put him on administrative leave approximately two weeks ago, and then give a letter of termination a week ago is ridiculous," Haley said. "We demand the governor put his foot down and release all the evidence, related to the Ronald Greene case."

Friday, Governor John Bel Edwards weighed in on the discussion.

A spokeswoman said, "The Governor has heard the recording and found it to be very disturbing. As he stated, that sort of language reflects poorly on the trooper and the Louisiana State Police. It is not the kind of language he expects a trooper to use under any circumstance."

Earlier this summer, the WBRZ Investigative Unit exposed another cover-up at State Police. Trooper August McKay called his co-worker the n-word, and received no discipline. Colonel Kevin Reeves never made himself available to address that situation. In fact, one of his administrators called WBRZ asking us not to air the story.

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