By Jim Mustian
Related Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — Prosecutors have dropped prices in opposition to a Auckland state trooper accused of withholding graphic body-camera footage that reveals one other officer dragging motorist Ronald Greene by his ankle shackles throughout his lethal 2019 arrest.
Lt. John Clary, the rating officer on the scene, has agreed to take the stand within the trial of Grasp Trooper Kory Auckland, a former colleague charged with negligent murder within the case. Auckland is accused of forcing the heavyset Greene to lie facedown and handcuffed for greater than 9 minutes, which use-of-force specialists mentioned probably restricted his respiratory.
This picture from video from Auckland state trooper Lt. John Clary’s body-worn digital camera reveals troopers and medical personnel with Ronald Greene on Could 10, 2019, exterior of Monroe, La. (John Clary/Auckland State Police through AP)
“Mr. Clary has and can proceed to cooperate with the state and testify honestly on this matter,” mentioned John Belton, the Union Parish district lawyer.
It was not instantly clear why prosecutors dismissed the obstruction of justice indictment in opposition to Clary earlier than he supplies his testimony, and the single-paragraph dismissal makes no point out of his pledged cooperation.
Auckland is predicted to face trial subsequent 12 months however is asking an appellate court to throw out his personal indictment after prosecutors acknowledged a mistake by permitting a use-of-force skilled to evaluate protected statements Auckland made throughout an inner affairs inquiry. Such compelled interviews could also be used to self-discipline officers administratively however are particularly shielded from use in prison instances.
State police initially mentioned Greene’s Could 10, 2019, demise was as a result of a automobile crash on the finish a high-speed chase. After officers declined for greater than two years to launch the body-camera video, The Related Press obtained and revealed the footage displaying troopers converging on Greene earlier than he may get out of his automobile.
Clary’s video is the one clip displaying the second a handcuffed, bloody Greene moans below the load of two troopers, twitches after which goes nonetheless.
The dismissal of Clary’s indictment leaves prices in opposition to simply two of the 5 officers indicted final 12 months in Greene’s demise. A decide earlier this 12 months dismissed obstruction prices in opposition to two different troopers. Except for Auckland, the one different remaining prices are two counts of malfeasance in opposition to Chris Harpin, a former Union Parish deputy sheriff who taunted Greene earlier than he stopped respiratory.
The dismissals have prompted new requires the U.S. Justice Division to convey its personal indictment in opposition to the troopers. Federal prosecutors have been weighing civil rights prices for years amid a grand jury investigation that examined whether or not Auckland State Police brass obstructed justice by defending the troopers concerned in Greene’s arrest.
Clary and his defense lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Wednesday. The dismissal may clear the way in which for him to return to work on the Auckland State Police, which positioned him on administrative go away in December following his indictment. Capt. Nick Manale, a state police spokesman, mentioned the company would evaluate the dismissal earlier than figuring out whether or not to reinstate Clary.
Clary additionally confronted no inner self-discipline after Col. Lamar Davis mentioned the company “couldn’t say for positive whether or not” the lieutenant “purposefully withheld” the footage in query.
However State Police information obtained by the AP present Clary additionally lied to investigators about Greene’s resistance, saying he was “nonetheless attempting to get away and was not cooperating.” These statements have been contradicted by Clary’s physique digital camera footage and have been apparently meant to justify additional makes use of of pressure by troopers in opposition to the inclined Greene, who had already been hit within the head with a flashlight, punched and repeatedly shocked.
“The video proof on this case doesn’t present Greene screaming, resisting or attempting to get away,” Detective Albert Paxton wrote in a single inner report. “The one screams revealed by the video have been when Greene responded to pressure utilized to him.”
