Lawmakers investigating the lethal arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene are getting ready to carry the previous head of the Louisiana State Police in contempt for refusing to show over his journals after talks broke down Monday in a dispute over an entry mentioning police brutality and Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The bipartisan committee will transfer “as quickly as attainable” to cost Kevin Reeves with contempt and start authorized proceedings to drive him to show over three handwritten journals he stored whereas main the embattled company, state Rep. Tanner Magee, who chairs the panel, informed The Related Press.
Holding the previous head of the state’s premier regulation enforcement company in contempt would mark a drastic escalation by the committee, which already has elicited explosive testimony from present police officers that they imagine Greene’s 2019 dying was lined up and that his beating by troopers after a high-speed chase amounted to “torture and homicide.”
Reeves’ lawyer, Lewis Unglesby, mentioned he had ready photocopies of almost a dozen journal entries to offer to Magee throughout a gathering however the lawmaker “bought excited and took off” with out the supplies.
“Col. Reeves isn’t in contempt of something,” Unglesby informed AP. “He has carried out nothing however be cooperative.”
The committee shaped in February after an AP report that Edwards was knowledgeable inside hours that troopers arresting Greene had engaged in a “violent, prolonged wrestle.” But the Democrat stayed principally silent on the case for 2 years as state troopers informed Greene’s household and wrote in experiences that he died as the results of a automobile crash after a high-speed chase exterior Monroe.
The governor has mentioned that he held off on talking out in regards to the troopers’ actions _ even after privately watching graphic physique digital camera footage of the arrest _ due to an ongoing federal investigation. He’s since referred to as the actions of the troopers concerned legal and racist.
AP final yr obtained and printed the long-withheld body-camera video that confirmed what actually occurred: troopers jolting Greene with stun weapons, punching him within the face and dragging him by his ankle shackles as he wailed, “I’m your brother! I’m scared! I’m scared!”
The eight-member legislative panel for weeks has been interviewing state police and different officers in a bid to reconstruct the company’s dealing with of the case. Final week, one senior state police official informed lawmakers he was “mystified” that no troopers have but confronted legal prices in Greene’s dying. One other rating official provided a unprecedented apology to Greene’s household, describing the 49-year-old’s deadly arrest as “an entire disregard for the sanctity of human life.”
Lawmakers have mentioned they intend to research what Edwards knew and when he knew it, however nobody on his employees has but been referred to as to testify.
Reeves, who described Greene’s dying as “terrible however lawful” and stepped down in late 2020 amid criticism, has sought to downplay his personal involvement within the case. He informed lawmakers in March that he had a follow-up dialog with Edwards about Greene’s dying _ regarding the preliminary coroner’s findings _ however mentioned the 2 didn’t talk about the case “in any depth” till late 2020, when phrase of Greene’s mistreatment and a federal civil rights investigation surfaced in media accounts.
In his testimony, Reeves additionally revealed he stored a journal with contemporaneous notes even after retiring as superintendent however wouldn’t decide to offering them to the committee.
“My journal is my private enterprise,” he mentioned, “and I’m not right here to debate it.”
Lawmakers issued a subpoena for the journals in April, days after Reeves’ lawyer declined by letter to show them over voluntarily, citing privateness and safety issues.
Magee, a Republican, mentioned he sat down at Unglesby’s workplace Monday to debate which parts of the “three small, moleskin journals” had been related to the committee’s inquiry. Through the assembly, the lawyer was prepared to supply entries that talked about Greene by title however resisted even exhibiting Magee different parts with out justification, the lawmaker mentioned.
Talks broke down over a June 17, 2020, entry that Magee mentioned talked about the governor by title together with notes about the best way to deal with physique digital camera footage and police brutality sooner or later.
Magee mentioned he thought the entry _ which was made across the time protests over George Floyd’s killing had been erupting throughout the nation _ may very well be associated to Greene’s dying. However he mentioned Unglesby denied this and refused to show it over, describing it as “only a random dialogue on police brutality.”
“So I informed him we’re going to proceed with going via with contempt prices,” Magee mentioned.
Unglesby mentioned he later emailed and faxed the entries he initially ready for launch to Magee, however withheld sure entries that contain “names and occasions” not associated to the scope of the committee. He declined to launch the supplies to AP.
A spokesperson for the governor mentioned Edwards probably noticed Reeves on June 17, 2020, however they didn’t talk about Greene. She famous {that a} legislative committee had a listening to on policing points on that date and mentioned the governor solely discovered of the “severe allegations surrounding Mr. Greene’s dying in September 2020.”
Magee mentioned the best way Reeves journal was written _ “like a to-do listing” _ made it onerous to say what the entries imply and that he solely noticed a fraction of them.
“I feel it’s untimely to make any accusations,” he mentioned. “However I feel it’s necessary we get the paperwork to place it into its correct context.
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