BATON ROUGE, La. — Testifying before a special legislative committee Tuesday afternoon, Mona Hardin told lawmakers the way her son died still has her in disbelief.
“I felt my son when he was dying. I woke up,” Hardin said.
Hardin’s testimony comes as the committee, created by republican house speaker Clay Schexnayder, works to figure out what happened the night Ronald Greene died and who knew about it before it all went public.
“There was a reason why my son was killed,” Hardin told lawmakers. “Because state troopers are judge, jury, executioner. It happened that night.”
That night was May 10, 2019, when state troopers tried to stop Ronald Greene, 49, for traffic violations outside Monroe. That led to a high-speed chase and Greene crashing into a tree. State police initially reported that’s how he died.
“The preliminary autopsy reflected a torn aorta and a separated spleen. I believe this is the reason initial cause of death was attributed to injuries sustained from the wreck,” said then Louisiana State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves
A later report indicated Greene, who is Black, died at the hands of officers, who are white, after allegedly being dragged, beaten and tased. Body camera video shows it happening.
“He was literally beaten to death,” Hardin said. “Stomped and dragged while chained and shackled.”
“People saw this as a cover up because the videos came out and it was different from what they reported,” said Representative Denise Marcelle, a democrat from Baton Rouge.
Facing criticism of an alleged coverup, Reeves told lawmakers there was no effort to mislead anyone. Reeves says he wasn’t directly involved in the investigation.
“I’m not completely in the dark on the cases, but as to the specifics of what’s going on, on these cases, I am not involved and I’m not directing. I don’t want daily updates,” said Reeves. “I want someone to conduct an investigation in an unfettered manner that represents what happened at a scene.”
That prompted Representative Jason Hughes to say he was baffled the head of state police didn’t know what was going on.
“Whether that was your intent or not, it seems like you were just grossly disengaged,” said Hughes, a democrat from New Orleans.
As the investigation plays out, Hardin says she’s not going anywhere until she and her son can rest.
“I have not grieved for my son. I have not buried my son. My son still sits in an urn,” Hardin said.
There is a federal investigation underway in this case, but so far there have been no charges filed in the death of Ronald Greene.