Louisiana officials have reached a tentative $4.8 million settlement with the family of Ronald Greene, the Black motorist who died following a violent 2019 roadside arrest, two people with direct knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press. The payment would resolve a federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Greene’s family and is subject to approval by the Louisiana Legislature, according to the sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.
A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police, Capt. Russell Graham, said the agency could not comment on terms because the process “has not yet been finalized.” Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Greene, 49, died after a traffic stop and a high-speed pursuit in May 2019 near Monroe, La. For two years the circumstances of the stop remained unclear: state police initially said Greene died after crashing into a tree during the chase and withheld body-camera footage. In 2021, the AP obtained video showing troopers punching, kicking and using stun guns on Greene outside Monroe. The footage shows troopers wrestling Greene to the ground, placing him in a chokehold, striking him, dragging him facedown while his hands were cuffed and his legs were shackled, and then leaving him on the ground without providing aid. Five white officers were involved in the arrest.
Federal prosecutors later declined to bring criminal charges against the troopers involved. The case also drew wider scrutiny: in January 2025, near the end of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Justice Department found that the Louisiana State Police engaged in a statewide pattern of excessive force during arrests and vehicle pursuits; those findings were rescinded several months later by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, according to the AP story.
The Justice Department’s probe began in 2022 after an AP investigation publicized a series of violent incidents involving state troopers. The Greene settlement, if approved by lawmakers, would bring a civil resolution to one of the most prominent incidents highlighted by those reports.