Former LSP Superintendent denies cover-up in Ronald Greene death investigation
MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Former Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Kevin Reeves testified in front of a special House committee investigating the death of Ronald Greene on March 15.
Greene died in 2019 following a chase that began in Ouachita Parish and ended in Union Parish.
LSP initially told Greene’s family he died as a result of a car accident, but body camera footage and an FBI autopsy refute that narrative.
Reeves denied the agency attempted to hide the truth under his leadership, saying, “I don’t believe there was any cover-up by state police in this matter.”
Reeves responded to questions that the troopers’ original crash report didn’t mention a struggle.
“Trooper York’s investigating of the crash is the crash report,” Reeves told lawmakers. “The detectives are investigating the struggle. He is doing a portion of the incident, which has to do with how the crash happened.”
Trooper Kory York was one of two troopers who turned off their body cameras at the scene. He was suspended for 50 hours.
On reports, officers attempted to hide body camera footage, Reeves said it was nothing nefarious.
“On not presenting it to the District Attorney, our personnel are human, and they make mistakes,” Reeves explained.
Earlier this year, according to the AP, LSP acknowledged that some officials, including Colonel Reeves’ phones, had been “sanitized” while the federal government’s probe was ongoing. Reeves said that was normal.
“That does sound bad, but there was no malicious intent here for what happened,” said Reeves. “It was restoring a phone to factory settings so the phone could be re-issued to someone else.”
Reeves also addressed what Governor John Bel Edwards knew and when.
“Is it normal for practice for a death in custody, or something of that severity that we wait 14 months, 16 months before the Governor’s office gets a detailed briefing on it,” one lawmaker asked?
“Yes,” Paxton replied.
Reeves took issue with one lawmaker classifying Greene’s death as a murder and said the car accident could be a contributing factor.
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