Louisiana Police Beat Unarmed Black Man to Death and Attempted a Cover-Up. Now, His Daughter Will Receive Historic $5M Settlement

For seven years, the name Ronald Greene has stood as a searing symbol of police brutality, accountability, and the agonizing fight for institutional transparency. Now, that battle has culminated in a historic, multi-million-dollar reckoning.

The Root previously reported on Ronald Greene, an unarmed Black man who was brutally beaten, dragged, and tased by state troopers during a violent traffic stop on May 10, 2019. Though authorities initially blamed his fatal injuries on a car crash, an emergency room doctor who examined Greene immediately questioned the police narrative, writing in his notes: “Does not add up.”

On the night of his death, Greene was traveling from Louisiana to Florida to reunite with his wife, CNN reported according to Lee Merritt, one of the attorneys representing the Greene family. The encounter began when Greene led police on a high-speed chase before finally pulling over on a dark, isolated road in Monroe, Louisiana.

Despite Greene pleading with officers, “I’m your brother! I’m scared!” troopers dragged him from his car, repeatedly shocked him with Tasers, and choked and punched him in the face, NBC News reported.

Even after he was securely handcuffed and shackled, police bodycam footage captured troopers dragging him face-down by his ankles. On the audio, one trooper can be heard saying, “I hope this guy ain’t got f***ing AIDS.” Greene was left pinned on his stomach in the dirt for more than nine minutes, moaning in agony while officers used sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their own hands and faces. Greene died later that day.

Nearly seven years after his death, the Louisiana State Police and a local sheriff’s office agreed to a $4.85 million payout to Greene’s daughter—marking one of the largest civil rights settlements in state history, The Guardian reported. The historic settlement stands as the only substantial form of accountability for a brutal killing that otherwise yielded nothing more than misdemeanor convictions for two of the officers involved.

The massive financial payout stands in stark contrast to the initial narrative spun by authorities, who went to extreme lengths for two years to hide the violence that took Greene’s life.

Internal police documentation omitted any mention of a struggle, the use of Tasers or physical force. State police told Greene’s family hours after the incident that he died on impact from a car crash after hitting a tree. It wasn’t until May 2021 when the Associated Press leaked the raw, unedited bodycam footage which proved Greene’s vehicle suffered only minor front-end damage, and that he was very much alive, cooperative, and uninjured until police pulled him from the vehicle.

The leaked footage sparked a massive federal civil rights investigation and a grand jury indictment for the four white troopers present at the time of Greene’s traffic stop: Dakota DeMoss, Kory York, Lt. John Clary, Gage Hollingsworth, and then-deputy Chris Harpin on charges ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance.

Harpin pleaded no contest in 2025 to a misdemeanor simple battery, and York pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and agreed to testify in a plea deal. All charges against DeMoss and Lt. Clary— the highest-ranking Louisiana State Police officer at the scene— were quietly dropped, WBRZ 2 and Police1.com reported.

Hollingsworth, who was caught on audio bragging that he “beat the ever-living f out of” Greene, died in a single-car crash in 2020, just hours after learning he was going to be fired, according to The Guardian.

Despite a brutal seven-year legal battle led by Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, and his children, state officials and defense attorneys technically settled the lawsuit without a formal admission of constitutional violations in a court verdict.

Benjamin Crump, one of the attorneys for the Greene family, acknowledged the settlement, adding that the money will not bring back their lost loved one.

“No amount of money can erase this pain, but the truth must always come to light,” he posted on X.