Louisiana to Pay $4.85M Over Ronald Greene's Death: Sources

Louisiana will pay nearly $5 million to the family of a Black motorist whose 2019 death in state police custody sparked national outrage and a federal civil rights probe, the Guardian reports. The $4.85 million settlement, reached in mediation Tuesday, resolves a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the daughter of Ronald Greene, who died after being stunned, beaten, and dragged by officers following a traffic stop near Monroe. The Louisiana Legislature must still approve the settlement, sources say.

Body-camera footage, kept from public view for two years before being obtained by the AP, showed Greene with his hands raised, begging, "I'm your brother! I'm scared!" as troopers shocked him multiple times, put him in a chokehold, punched him, and left him facedown while shackled. State police initially blamed his death on a car crash after a high-speed chase, a claim later undercut by photos of Greene's injuries, minimal vehicle damage, and an emergency-room doctor's note that the troopers' account "does not add up." A state grand jury eventually indicted five white officers, but only two were convicted of misdemeanors. The Justice Department later concluded Louisiana state troopers had used excessive force in a broader pattern of misconduct, but federal prosecutors announced last year that they would not pursue federal charges, NOLA.com reports.