The Louisiana chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement after the Associated Press released and reported on footage of police killing Ronald Greene in 2019. The footage shows Louisiana state troopers “stunning, punching and dragging” Greene, who they “jolted repeatedly with a stun gun before he even gets out of his car.” The Associated Press report contained a number of additional disturbing details, which you can find here.
Authorities refused to release body camera footage for two years after Greene’s death and originally told Greene’s family that Greene died on impact after crashing into a tree. State police did not open an administrative investigation until 474 days after Greene’s death.
“Louisiana state police killed Ronald Greene, covered it up, and continue to reject basic principles of transparency and accountability,” said Angelle Bradford, a volunteer with the Louisiana chapter of Moms Demand Action. “It’s never been more obvious that our policing system needs fundamental changes. Our hearts are with the Greene family and we will stand with them as they continue to fight for long-overdue justice.”
Last year, in a recording obtained by the Associated Press, “a Louisiana State trooper implicated in the death of a Black man [Ronald Greene] can be heard talking of beating and choking him before ‘all of a sudden he just went limp,’” the AP reported. The officer heard on the recording recounted that he “beat the ever-living f— out of him,” according to the AP.
Research suggests that implementing specific use-of-force policies can save lives. One 2016 study of 91 large police departments found adoption of use-of-force reform policies—exhaustion of other means prior to shooting, bans on chokeholds and strangleholds, use-of-force continuum, de-escalation, duty to intervene, restrictions on shootings at moving vehicles, and warning before shooting—was associated with fewer people killed by police.
Black Americans are shot and killed by police at three times the rate of white Americans, and data from Mapping Police Violence shows that most people killed by police are killed with guns.