(ThyBlackMan.com) In Louisiana, there has been a series of police encounters that have captured our attention. Earlier this year, we were told of Ronald Greene who was tragically killed by Louisiana State Police (LSP) on a dark, secluded backroad in Ouachita Parish. After his killing was made nationwide, there was another Black man, Aaron Larry Bowman, that was revealed to have been beaten by the LSP. This year, another Black man, Clarence Green, came forward about police officers in Baton Rouge strip searching him and his 16-year-old brother and then searching their home without a warrant and weapons drawn. All three cases featured Black men or families who once detained posed no threat but officers felt the need to deal more damage than necessary.
In the Greene case, he died due to his injuries. For Bowman, the road was much hard as he had to heal not just mentally and spiritually but physically from his broken jaw, three fractured ribs, a broken wrist, and a cut so deep on his head that he needed six staples to close it. Clarence Green ended up serving five months in prison after his encounter with the police.
The first two cases occurred within about three weeks of each other. On the other hand, Green and his family eventually settled out of court for $35,000 but the sense of security that was taken can never be replaced. However, each of the cases have a feature that should be frightening to any American citizen but especially to Black and Brown citizens.
In the first two cases, the police deliberately lied to protect themselves and withheld video evidence of their crimes for years. We are not talking about small lies. No, these civil servants used every resource and person in their wheelhouse to cover up their foul smelling deeds. In Ronald Greene’s case, officers told his family that he had died on impact in a car crash while his car was in driving condition when his family came to view it. They said his injuries were sustained from the car crash but didn’t bother to explain where the Taser marks came from when they took Ronald Greene to the hospital. Troopers from the Bowman case wrote in his report that Bowman was actively resisting arrest and he had to use “pain compliance” to subdue him.
We found out that was lie when the accused troopers body cam showed Bowman screaming, “I’m not resisting!”, as the officer bludgeoned with a department issued flashlight. In the Clarence Greene case, a U.S. District court judge made note in the case that the officers gave many conflicting accounts of what happened before the stop and failed to offer a “satisfactory explanation” as to why their police reports in this particular investigation had been edited or revised nearly a dozen times in the wake of Green’s arrest. This has been happening more and more especially in the advent of body cams on cops to keep them on the up and up.
These three cases perfectly illustrate the founded fears that Black and Brown people have when dealing with the authorities.
Staff Writer; Monika Rambeaux