Latest Weather Blog
Three years after Ronald Greene's death and family still waits for justice
Related Story
BATON ROUGE- It was May 10, 2019. A motorist led Louisiana State troopers on a high speed chase through north Louisiana. When Ronald Greene was yanked from his car, top State Police brass now admit he was "tortured and murdered."
Three years later, the family is still waiting for justice tied to the case.
For years, the WBRZ Investigative Unit has been exposing a cover-up at the highest levels at State Police. Body camera footage was hidden from investigating troopers, and whistleblowers who came out to talk about what happened were terminated or investigated.
As Greene's death continues to be the focus of a state and federal investigation, a Louisiana lawmaker wants to protect law enforcement in the future from any retribution for reporting malfeasance.
State Representative Kyle Green from the New Orleans area authored Bill 745. If signed into law, it would protect whistleblowers.
"No police employee shall be discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or discriminated against in any manner in the terms and conditions of his employment because of any lawful act engaged in by the employee or on behalf of the employee in furtherance of any action to report malfeasance in office by police employees," the proposed bill reads.
Louisiana currently has whistleblower laws on the books, but that did not stop State Police from taking action against one trooper and another who said he refused to hide evidence.
State Trooper Carl Cavalier was terminated for speaking out about the Greene case in a WBRZ Investigative Unit report. Trooper Albert Paxton, one of the investigators looking into Greene's death, was placed under investigation.
"I'm being investigated because I refused to participate in the cover-up, hide evidence and lie," Paxton said.
If the bill Representative Green proposes becomes law, it would make what happened to Paxton and Cavalier illegal.
"Shame on Louisiana," Ronald Greene's mother, Mona Hardin, said last month. "Shame on all them for putting Paxton and Cavalier, all the others who have come forward. What I saw here is the same thing in the legislature....defiance of the laws."
District Attorney John Belton said he plans to meet with the Greene family this week. He said his case is progressing, but he is still waiting on information from the feds.
News
