By Jake Bleiberg and Jim Mustain | Related Press
NEW ORLEANS — Lawmakers investigating the lethal arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene are making 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, instructed The Related Press.
Holding the previous head of the state’s premier legislation 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 demise was lined up and that his beating by troopers after a high-speed chase amounted to “torture and homicide.”
Reeves’ lawyer, Lewis Unglesby, stated he had ready photocopies of practically a dozen journal entries to present to Magee throughout a gathering however the lawmaker “obtained excited and took off” with out the supplies.
“Col. Reeves isn’t in contempt of something,” Unglesby instructed AP. “He has performed nothing however be cooperative.”
The committee fashioned 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 instructed Greene’s household and wrote in stories that he died as the results of a automobile crash after a high-speed chase exterior Monroe.
The governor has stated that he held off on talking out in regards to the troopers’ actions — even after privately watching graphic physique digicam 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 12 months obtained and revealed 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 instructed lawmakers he was “mystified” that no troopers have but confronted legal expenses in Greene’s demise. One other rating official provided a rare 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 stated 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 demise as “terrible however lawful” and stepped down in late 2020 amid criticism, has sought to downplay his personal involvement within the case. He instructed lawmakers in March that he had a follow-up dialog with Edwards about Greene’s demise — in regards to the preliminary coroner’s findings — however stated the 2 didn't focus on 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 stated, “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 considerations.
Magee, a Republican, stated he sat down at Unglesby’s workplace Monday to debate which parts of the “three small, moleskin journals” have been related to the committee’s inquiry. Through the assembly, the lawyer was prepared to offer entries that talked about Greene by title however resisted even displaying Magee different parts with out justification, the lawmaker stated.
Talks broke down over a June 17, 2020, entry that Magee stated talked about the governor by title together with notes about easy methods to deal with physique digicam footage and police brutality sooner or later.
Magee stated he thought the entry — which was made across the time protests over George Floyd’s killing have been erupting throughout the nation — might be associated to Greene’s demise. However he stated Unglesby denied this and refused to show it over, describing it as “only a random dialogue on police brutality.”
“So I instructed him we’re going to proceed with going by means of with contempt expenses,” Magee stated.
Unglesby stated 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 stated Edwards possible noticed Reeves on June 17, 2020, however they didn't focus on Greene. She famous that a legislative committee had a listening to on policing points on that date and stated the governor solely discovered of the “severe allegations surrounding Mr. Greene’s demise in September 2020.”
Magee stated the way in which Reeves journal was written — “like a to-do listing” — made it arduous to say what the entries imply and that he solely noticed a fraction of them.
“I believe it’s untimely to make any accusations,” he stated. “However I believe it’s necessary we get the paperwork to place it into its correct context.
Bleiberg reported from Dallas.