BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice is opening a comprehensive civil rights investigation into the Louisiana State Police amid growing evidence that the agency has one pattern looking to another. side against the beatings of black men, including the fatal arrest of Ronald Greene in 2019.
The federal “pattern or practice” investigation was announced Thursday after an Associated Press investigation found that Greene’s arrest was among at least a dozen cases in the last decade in which police officers state or its leaders ignored or hid evidence of beatings, misappropriated guilt and thwarted efforts to eliminate misconduct. Dozens of current and former soldiers said the beatings were supported by a culture of impunity, nepotism and, in some cases, outright racism.
“We find a significant justification for opening this investigation now. Deputy General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the Department of Justice’s civil rights division. He added that there were also reports of soldiers targeting black residents in traffic enforcement and using “racial injuries and racially derogatory terms.”
The federal investigation, the first such action against a statewide law enforcement agency in more than two decades, comes more than three years after white soldiers were captured in a retained body camera video for a long time hitting, stunning, and dragging Greene on a country road near Monroe. . Despite lengthy ongoing federal and state criminal investigations into a death that was initially blamed for a car accident, no one has been charged.
The AP report found that soldiers have been in the habit of turning off or silencing body cameras during chases. When images are recorded, the agency usually refuses to publish them. And a recently retired supervisor who oversaw a particularly violent clique of soldiers told internal investigators last year that it was his “usual practice” in reports of officers’ use of force without ever reviewing the body camera video. .
In some cases, police omitted the use of force, such as beatings at the head of official reports, and in others, police tried to justify their actions by alleging that the suspects were violent, resisting, or escaping. , all this was contradicted by video images.
Louisiana arrests reveal violence and cover-ups
“This systemic misconduct has been blessed by senior Louisiana state police officials,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU. He described a “culture of violence, terror and discrimination” within the agency and called Greene’s death “the tip of the iceberg”.
Clarke said the “pattern or practice” civil investigation is aimed at pushing for the necessary reforms, if necessary by the plaintiff to implement a federal consent decree. He added that Governor John Bel Edwards and Louisiana State Police Superintendent Lamar Davis have pledged to cooperate.
Davis, in an internal email obtained by AP, told the soldiers to “keep their heads up” and accept federal scrutiny. “We have nothing to hide and we can only benefit from learning,” he wrote.
Edwards issued a statement on Thursday welcoming the investigation. “It is deeply worrying that there are allegations of systemic misconduct that justify this type of investigation,” he said, “but it is absolutely critical that all Louisiana residents, especially African Americans and others of color, have their faith, confidence. and trust in restored public safety officers “.
Black leaders have been calling on the Justice Department for months to launch a broader investigation into the potential racial profile by the mostly white state police, similar to other probes opened last year in Minneapolis, Louisville and Phoenix.
According to his own account, 67% of the use of state police force in recent years was against blacks, who represent 33% of the state’s population.
The action comes as Edwards prepares to testify before a bipartisan group of state lawmakers investigating Greene’s death. The AP reported last month that the Democratic Gov. May 2019.
Federal prosecutors are also investigating whether the police brass obstructed justice to protect soldiers in the Greene case and whether they tried to hide evidence from police officers who beat other black motorcyclists.
The head of state police at the time of Greene’s arrest, Kevin Reeves, has denied that the death was hidden, but current commanders have told lawmakers investigating the state’s response that it did. The agency’s own force-using expert called what Greene’s soldiers did “torture and murder.”
The AP also found that a former agent involved in three different beatings, Jacob Brown, had 23 uses of force since 2015, 19 of which involved black people. In a case that led to federal charges, Brown was seen in the video of the body camera hitting Aaron Larry Bowman 18 times with a flashlight after officers arrested him for a traffic violation in 2019. State police did not investigate the attack until 536 days later. , and he did so only after a lawsuit from Bowman, who was left with a cut on his head and a fractured jaw, ribs and wrist.
“Finally!!!” Bowman’s attorney, Donecia Banks-Miley, said in a text message when she heard the pattern or practice investigation. “We still need transparency and accountability to help restore the continuing pain with LSP and other law enforcement agencies.”
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Bleiberg reported from Uvalde, Texas.
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Contact the AP Global Research Team at Investigative@ap.org or