MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the family of Tyre Nichols joined the family of another man who died in police custody in Louisiana for a news conference Tuesday at the National Civil Rights Museum in downtown Memphis.
Crump and the families are calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the death of Ronald Greene, who died in 2019. They want the federal government to bring charges against the Louisiana troopers involved, like they did in the Nichols case.
For RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, their hope is to use their own tragedy to bring awareness to cases like Greene's.
"I met his mother Mona last year," said RowVaughn Wells. "When she told her story, it brought chills to me because it was so similar to my own son's tragedy... In 2019, (Ronald Greene) was driving home and he was stopped by five Louisiana State Troopers. He was beaten to death, and I never heard it. Didn't know anything of his story."
During the news conference, Crump noted the swiftness in the arrests of the officers in the Nichols' case, but a lack of the same in the Greene case.
"We have an apple-to-apple comparison between Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, and Ronald Greene in Louisiana," said Crump. "Both of them on video... You had Tyre Nichols stopped from a traffic stop allegedly. You had Ronald Greene stopped for a traffic stop. You had police officers who made reports that contradicted what was on the video in Tyre Nichols, you had police reports made by the Louisiana State Troopers that contradicted what was on the video. So what was the difference between Tyre Nichols, and the officers that killed him and his tragic death, and Ronald Greene and the officers that killed him in his tragic death?"
"It's America in Black and White," continued Crump, as he noted it was five Black officers in the Memphis case, and five White officers in the Louisiana case.
"This was in 2019... Ronny was 'driving while Black' in the state of Louisiana - the deep South," said Mona Hardin, Greene's mother. "As we see it now, it's a genocide that lingers really heavy. You can not turn your back on what's happening throughout all the states."
Hardin said in her son's case, a Black officer was fired, but the White officers have been allowed to retire and serve their terms out. She noted one White officer - Chris Hollingsworth - died before Louisiana authorities said he could be fired.
"He bragged about 'I beat the ever-lovin' f*** out of him.' His words... A year later we were told they were gonna fire him and he died in a car wreck," said Hardin. "And his records are sealed. Why is that? He bragged about what he'd did to my son. But when he died, his burial was with all the bells and whistles of a hero."
Crump said Greene's family has been waiting for justice for too long.
"We say no one's above the law. Why are they protecting these White cops?" asked Hardin. "I'm begging the Department of Justice, please don't turn your back. How would it be if that were your son? This is my son. Someone needs to be held accountable for murdering Ronald Greene."
Tyre's mother said she and Hardin became friends through the sorrow, and Wells wanted to know why there wasn't a civil rights case for Greene.
"How come some cases are treated with more respect than others?" asked Wells. "We need to bring awareness to those cases who are not being treated equally."
The death of Ronald Greene
Greene died in May 2019 after being arrested in Louisiana. State authorities told his family the 49-year-old man had died in a car crash after a high-speed crash near Monroe, but that account was questioned by an emergency room doctor.
An initial coroner’s report listed the cause of death as a motor vehicle accident, and a state police crash report did not mention troopers using force.
462 days passed before the state police launched an internal investigation.
State officials repeatedly refused to release the body-camera video of Greene’s arrest. Then in 2021, the Associated Press obtained and published the footage showing troopers using stun guns on him before he could get out of the car, wrestling him to the ground, placing him in a chokehold and punching him in the face.
After years of investigating, authorities have failed to pinpoint what, exactly, caused Greene’s death during the arrest. Autopsy reports cited a number of contributing factors, including troopers’ repeated use of a stun gun, physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and “complications of cocaine use,” with a forensic pathologist declining to identify which was most lethal.
Five officers were indicted in late 2022 on a range of charges over the beating. But in September 2024, Louisiana prosecutors dismissed the most serious negligent homicide charge against one of the troopers – Kory York. York and one other officer remain charged with multiple felony malfeasance counts, but likely will not face significant prison time.
Another trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, was widely considered the most culpable of the half-dozen officers involved, but Hollingsworth died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020 hours after he learned he would be fired.
Greene’s death sparked national outrage and was among several beatings of Black men by Louisiana troopers that prompted the U.S. Justice Department to open an ongoing civil rights investigation into the state police.
Reminders of Tyre
Tyre Nichols had been stopped by the former SCORPION unit members on Jan. 7, 2023, and died three days later at St. Francis Hospital. Video released later showed the beating.
Three former Memphis Police officers were convicted in a split decision Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, after jurors deliberated for roughly six and a half hours.
Demetrius Haley was convicted on the lesser charges of deliberate indifference and deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury for counts one and two. Haley was also found guilty of counts three and four - conspiracy to commit obstruction and obstruction. His attorney has asked for his release on bond pending sentencing in January 2025.
Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean were only found guilty on one count of a four-count indictment, which was count four: obstruction, witness tampering. Their attorneys have filed motions seeking an acquittal.
The officers are still set to stand trial in the state case, in which they are charged with a host of offenses, including second-degree murder.
Two other officers, Desmond Mills and Emmitt Martin III, pleaded guilty in the case and testified during the federal trial. Those officers remain out of custody and are expected to pled in the state case.
A jury trial for the $550 million lawsuit filed by Nichols’ family against the City of Memphis is set for March 2025.
In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was launching a civil rights "pattern or practice" investigation into the Memphis Police Department and the City of Memphis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
