4.8 Million Settlement Reached in Death of Ronald Greene But No One Held Criminally Responsible

A measure of justice arrived Tuesday evening when Louisiana officials reached a tentative $4.8 million settlement with the family of Ronald Greene, the 49-year-old Black motorist who died on May 10, 2019, after a brutal encounter with the Louisiana State Police. It is a victory, hard-won and long delayed,  but no settlement can undo the loss, and Greene's family and friends should never have had to live without him.

Greene died after a high-speed chase near Monroe ended not in a crash, as authorities first told his mother, Mona Hardin, but in a violent arrest where he was beaten and shocked with stun guns. Body-camera footage, released amid public pressure nearly two years later, finally exposed the truth the family had been denied.

The agreement would resolve the federal wrongful death lawsuit Greene's family filed in May 2020, though it still requires approval from the state legislature. The Louisiana State Police confirmed the deal but stayed guarded, with Lt. Kate Stegall saying the department "is unable to discuss the terms of the settlement at this time."

The win is shadowed by accountability that never came. Five officers initially faced state charges, but several were dropped or reduced, and in January 2025 federal prosecutors told the family the Justice Department would not pursue charges.

So his loved ones take this settlement as vindication of what they always knew. Yet the deepest truth remains: Ronald Greene should still be alive, and his family and friends should not have to mourn him at all.

Link: ABC7