BATON ROUGE, L. (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into Louisiana State Police, which is growing evidence that the agency looks different in the background of beating the majority of black men. Including the deadly arrest of Ronald Green in 2019.
The federal action, officials told The Associated Press, will be announced late Thursday, more than three years after the white soldiers were caught. Body camera banging, Green is gorgeous and dragged on a country road near Monroe. Despite a lengthy and ongoing federal and state investigation into the dead soldiers who were initially blamed for the car accident, no one has yet been charged.
OR AP Investigation Found that Greene’s arrest was one of at least a dozen cases in the past decade in which state police officers or their superiors ignored or hid evidence of beatings, denied the cases, and prevented attempts to correct the irregularities. Dozens of current and former soldiers said the beating was justified by a Culture of impunity, nepotism and, in some cases, blatant racism.
According to the AP, soldiers received their body cameras turned off or muted during the pursuit. Once footage is recorded, the agency regularly refuses to publish it. And a recently retired superintendent in charge of a group of particularly violent soldiers told internal investigators last year that it was his “common practice” to review officers ’use of force without reviewing video of body camera.
In some cases, soldiers skipped the use of force, such as dismissing official reports, and in other cases, soldiers tried to justify their actions by attacking, resistance or escape with suspicion, compared to video footage.
Those who confirmed the “pattern or practice” of the investigation spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, as they were not allowed to review the investigation until it was announced. A state police spokesman did not comment, but said the agency plans to issue a statement on Thursday.
Black leaders are urging the Justice Department in a few months to launch a broader investigation into the potential racial profile of white state police, as well as other investigations that opened in Minneapolis, Louisville and Phoenix in last year.
According to their own data, 67% of the use of state police forces in recent years has been against blacks, who make up 33% of the state’s population.
Action is Democratic Governor John Bell Edwards Prepare to Testify to Bipartisan Panel of State lawmakers investigating Greene’s death. Edwards and his attorneys personally watched the video, which showed Greene controlling The Last Breath During his fatal arrest – footage that did not reach the prosecution on May 10, 2019, nearly two years after death of Greene.
Federal prosecutors are still investigating whether police obstructed justice to protect soldiers in the Green case and whether they tried to hide evidence that soldiers beat other black drivers.
Reported by Bleiberg from Waldale, Texas.
Source: Huffpost
