Committee probing Ronald Greene’s death schedules first meeting

By JC Canicosa
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — A select committee of Louisiana lawmakers, formed “to review the handling, on all levels” of Ronald Greene’s 2019 death in State Police custody, will hold its inaugural meeting this week on Tuesday, March 8.

House Speaker Clay Schexnayder formed the committee after an Associated Press report revealed Gov. John Bel Edwards received texts about Greene’s death months before police body camera video was made public several months later.

The meeting’s purpose is to “adopt a committee name, to adopt committee rules and discuss committee objectives,” according to the meeting’s notice. No invited witnesses are included on the notice.

Greene, a 49-year-old Black motorist from West Monroe, died after a vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash outside Monroe in May 2019. The Associated Press obtained text messages and emails that provided insight on information shared with Edwards about the incident, including a text message to the governor on the night of Greene’s death.

Then-State Police Superintendent Col. Kevin Reeves informed Edwards that an unnamed motorist became unresponsive after a “violent, lengthy struggle” with troopers.

Edwards made no public comment on the manner of Greene’s death until after police body camera video was made public several months later and showed police using stun guns on Greene as well as beating and dragging him. Troopers have claimed Greene died as a result of injuries from the car crash.

The governor has taken issue with reaction to the AP story from political opponents who have implied that he might have withheld information on the true nature of Greene’s death from the deceased’s family and the public. At a Feb. 1 press conference in response to the AP report, he called the allegations “simply and categorically false.”

House Speaker Pro Temp Tanner Magee, R-Houma, will chair the select committee. Its members are: Reps. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville; Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans; Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge; Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans; C. Denise Marcelle, D-Marcelle; Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville; and Debbie Villio, R-Kenner.

Louisiana Illuminator (www.lailluminator.com) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.

This article originally published in the March 7, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.