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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — On Tuesday, the Special Committee to Inquire into the Circumstances and Investigation of the Death of Ronald Greene heard testimony from former Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Kevin Reeves. Members asked him about the details of communication shared in the hours and weeks following Greene’s death.

The special committee unveiled a series of moments where higher-ups at the State Police and the Governor’s Office did not ask for more information regarding the death of Ronald Greene. Most of the information was left up to investigators where there are currently accused cover-ups. Col. Reeves told the committee he was not closely following the investigation into the in-custody death.

“I am not involved in it, I’m not directing, I don’t want daily updates. I want someone to conduct an investigation in an unfettered manner that represents what happened,” Col. Reeves said.

After the initial text to the governor in May 2019 stating there was a lengthy violent encounter with a motorist, the governor did not get a deeper debrief on the matter until several months later in the fall of 2020, according to Reeves.

“For me, something that is so uncommon one would think that more attention would be placed on it. And to hear that there wasn’t, it’s disappointing,” Rep. Edmond Jordan said.

Legislators questioned Reeves further on why an in-custody death was not given more attention.

“I am surprised that the top wasn’t tipped off and nobody was like, ‘OK, let me know where we’re at today.’ That is a little shocking,” Rep. Tony Bacala said.

Members also pointed to information that was left out of some of the initial reports that would have warranted more questions from the get-go. The body camera footage from Lt. John Clary was missing from the initial report to the district attorney. Rep. Tony Bacala, a former sheriff’s deputy, said the initial crash report that did not mention a violent struggle could have misled a physician determining the cause of death.

“So the conclusions drawn by the pathologists are going to be based largely on how much knowledge he had about the incident… If he was provided with incomplete information, he will draw a conclusion that may not be as accurate,” Rep. Bacala said.

There is also talk of looking at a journal held by Col. Reeves where he documented information about the case in the early days of the investigation. 

“When you leave something out for a reason, it’s not a mistake that someone died. I mean, someone died. We’re not talking about someone that was just injured. Someone died,” Rep. C. Denise Marcelle said.

Col. Reeves maintains the belief that Greene died as a result of a car crash and that there was not a cover-up of information.

“But I can tell you right now I will not have to account for participating in a cover-up of the death of Mr. Ronald Greene,” Col. Reeves said.

Members on both sides of the aisle remain skeptical and have many more questions. There are still many questions about why cell phones of troopers involved in the arrest of Greene were wiped and why there weren’t more questions about the progression of this case. The committee is going to continue to look into the details and plan to call more witnesses in the coming weeks.