Edwards Addresses Accusations Concerning Ronald Greene's Death

“There are implications that I knew more or that one or more of my staff members tried to cover up what happened. I will say that is simply and categorically false.”

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards addressed the media and the state on Tuesday as allegations that his office was involved in a cover-up following the death of Ronald Greene have been ramped up since an AP report accused him of keeping quiet on the horrific details of Greene's death during his reelection campaign.

Ronald Greene, a black motorist, died in State Police custody following a violent struggle with troopers in 2019. Edwards says he did not find out the details of Greene's death at the hands of officers until 2020. Edwards was reelected in 2019. The Associated Press story says text messages obtained in a public records request suggest Edwards is lying and sat by as State Police told a different story: that Greene died from a crash following a high speed chase. In Tuesday's press conference, Edwards appealed to the press and to the people of Louisiana that it is not in his heart to do the things he is accused of doing.

As of now, it appears support and condemnation of the governor is falling along party lines. The Louisiana GOP is calling for an immediate investigation:

The officially released story was that Mr. Greene had died in the car wreck which ended a high speed police chase across several parishes. Yet recently uncovered evidence has shown beyond any doubt that John Bel Edwards was notified within hours of the tragedy that Mr. Greene had very much survived the wreck and later died in police custody. Nevertheless, the Governor continued to maintain the fiction that Mr. Greene died in a wreck for two more years, knowing full well that this was not true...in the Greene tragedy John Bel Edwards went to extraordinary lengths to cover up his lack of action in the death of an African-American man in police custody, just before a gubernatorial election in which he would need a big majority of African-American votes to have any chance of victory. (This) case illustrates the dangers of John Bel Edwards’ hyper-partisan approach to governing, but even more concerning are his repeated moral failures. The Governor has made very serious mistakes, this much we know, but it appears likely that unethical and even illegal acts have also been committed.

But Vincent Pierre, the new head of the Legislative Black Caucus, says those legislators are keeping their support behind Edwards.

Ronald Greene's mother, Mona Hardin, was not impressed with Edwards' press conference. She has already called for him to resign and to face criminal charges, according to this exclusive from KNOE.

Edwards took questions from the media and ended his press conference by "committ(ing) to ensuring what happened never happens again."