‘GASPING FOR AIR’

Trooper Denied Having Damning Bodycam Video of Ronald Greene Arrest

A state investigative report says Louisiana State Police Lt. John Clary also gave false statements about Greene resisting arrest.

The highest-ranking Louisiana State Police trooper involved in the arrest of Ronald Greene in 2019 denied having bodycam video of the deadly confrontation and falsely described the shackled man’s actions, a state investigation found. The six-page report, obtained by the Associated Press, says Greene was “suffering” and “gasping for air” while being restrained facedown after being Tasered, choked, and punched by police. While Lt. John Clary claimed that Greene was not cooperating, the report says that “the video evidence in this case does not show Greene screaming, resisting or trying to get away... The only screams revealed by the video were when Greene responded to force applied to him.” That video evidence includes Clary’s bodycam footage, which emerged last month, two years after he said there wasn’t any. Cops pounced on the unarmed Black man after a high-speed chase ended in a crash; he died on the way to the hospital, and an autopsy report says how he was restrained was a contributing factor.