BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) —”I come with a heavy heart because my son was sent to me, I was forced to cremate my son,” said the mother of Ronald Greene, Mona Hardin, while holding the ashes of her son during a virtual press conference with the NAACP and the National Bar Association on Feb. 10.
Mona displayed the cremated remains of her son as a statement to show the world how she was forced to cremate her son when nearby funeral homes and coroner’s offices refused to embalm him. The local funeral home that had Greene’s body said cremation was the only option.
“I wasn’t able to embalm him and take him back with me to Florida and that weighs heavy on me,” said Mona.
After learning her son was involved in an accident, the family rushed to Louisiana to be by his side. Mona said after arriving in Louisiana, she was not giving any clear understanding as to what happened to her son. She said she called around, talked with the coroner’s office, funeral directors, and even the medical staff, and was not given the truth about how her son died.
The funeral home only allowed the family to view Greene from his neck up. Mona said she wanted to identify him by looking at his tattoos but was not granted the opportunity. Greene’s sister, Dinelle Hardin said when she saw the face of her brother, she knew there was more to the story.
“After seeing the cuts on his head and bruises on his face we knew there was more to his story, so we began to dig for more details and no one would cooperate with us,” said Dinelle.
Mona said it sickened her to know the same people that were showing her sympathy after the loss of her son were the same people who were hiding the truth about what really happened on May 10, 2019.
“I want the whole world to see what troopers did to my son, I want the whole world to see that video,” said Mona.
Her message to Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana state troopers is that they are not above the law. She is calling for transparency and the truth she was denied regarding her son’s death.
Mona said she has not been able to give her son the proper burial because she is still fighting for his justice.