A Louisiana state trooper was killed in a highway crash hours after he learned he would be fired for his role in the custody death of a Black man last year, according to reports.
Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth died Tuesday after being airlifted and briefly hospitalized, The Associated Press reported, citing the Ouachita Parish Coroner’s Office.
The State Police officer’s personal car was the only vehicle involved in Monday’s accident, which occurred on Interstate 20 near Monroe, according to reports.
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Police have not released any other details about the crash or what caused it.
Hollingsworth had been under investigation in the May 2019 death of 49-year-old Ronald Greene, whose case is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit.
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Greene’s family alleged Hollingsworth and other troopers used excessive force and “brutalized” the man during an arrest for an unspecified traffic violation, however, authorities said the man had crashed his vehicle into a tree following a high-speed chase in rural northern Louisiana.
But Greene’s family released graphic photographs last week that show deep bruises and cuts to his face, and other photos showing his car with little damage, the AP reported. That raised questions about whether Greene received those injuries in a car crash — as authorities initially told his family — or when troopers arrested him.
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The agency has faced mounting pressure to release body-camera footage and other records related to the case, but has refused to do so citing the ongoing internal investigation, which was opened last month.
The department has only publicly said that Greene died “after resisting arrest and a struggle with troopers.”
Greene’s family has filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit and called for “the immediate arrest of the remaining men responsible for this tragic and unnecessary death.”
The family said troopers used a stun gun on Greene three times and “left him beaten, bloodied and in cardiac arrest” before covering up his actual cause of death.
“Trooper Hollingsworth’s family has the finality of knowing exactly how he died as their community mourns his loss,” said Lee Merritt, a prominent civil rights attorney representing the family. “The family of Ronald Greene, however, is still being denied the same finality by the State of Louisiana.”
It was not immediately clear what impact Hollingsworth’s death would have on ongoing investigations. Hollingsworth was the only one of the six troopers involved who had been placed on leave. That came Sept. 9 — the same day the AP filed a records request for body=camera footage of Greene’s arrest.
— This is a breaking news story. Please stay with AJC.com for the latest updates. Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
