Jim Mustian exclusively obtained an audio clip from the body-camera footage of a Louisiana state trooper implicated in the death of a Black motorist last year, capturing the trooper saying, “I beat the ever-living f--- out of him.” It is the most direct evidence yet to emerge in the death last year of Ronald Greene, which troopers initially blamed on injuries from a car crash at the end of a chase. The long-simmering case has now become the subject of a federal civil rights investigation and growing calls for authorities to release the full body-cam video.
Mustian, a former investigative reporter for The New Orleans Advocate, is deeply sourced on the Louisiana State Police and has been consistently out front on this story. He broke the news that federal investigators were stepping in, and his break on the trooper’s 27-second audio received srong play through busy news cycles.
Troopers gather during the burial services for Louisiana State Police Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth in West Monroe, La., Sept. 25, 2020. Hollingsworth died in a single-car crash hours after he learned he had been fired for his role in the in-custody death of Ronald A. Greene in May 2019. On a recording obtained by the AP, Hollingsworth is heard describing beating and choking Greene after a police pursuit.
AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis