The charges — which include a single count of involuntary manslaughter for one of the five officers — stemmed from an indictment filed in a state court in Louisiana, officials and lawyers for Mr. Green’s family said. The charges are the first in a case that has galvanized activists and sparked widespread scrutiny of state police as Mr. Green was initially described as resisting arrest after a high-speed chase revealed by body camera footage. The video, obtained by The Associated Press, showed Mr Green, 49, shouting: “I’m scared!” as a white officer repeatedly stunned him with a Taser. “They need to be held accountable,” Mona Hardin, Mr. Greene’s mother, told reporters Thursday after the charges were announced, describing the development as a positive step to follow with successful prosecutions. “Because if not, you’re condoning the murder of Ronald Green. You’re okay with my son being murdered if you give me a slap on the wrist.” State police said Thursday that two troopers had been placed on administrative leave because of the indictment. One of them, Master Trooper Kory York, was charged with the most serious offenses, including manslaughter and 10 counts of misconduct in office. (Private York had previously received a 50-hour suspension and returned to active duty.) The other, Lt. John Clary, who was charged with misconduct in office and obstruction of justice, was the highest-ranking soldier on the scene. Two others with the state police, Trooper Dakota DeMoss and Capt. John Peters, were both charged with obstruction of justice. Christopher Harpin, a Union Parish sheriff’s deputy, was also named in the indictment, charged with three counts of abuse of authority. Trooper DeMoss was placed on leave last year after being arrested in an unrelated case in which he and three other troopers were accused of using excessive force and turning off body cameras during arrests. The five officers charged Thursday and their attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment. However, attorneys representing Trooper York and Deputy Harpin told The Associated Press Thursday night that they expected their clients to be found not guilty if their cases went to trial. Another trooper involved in the arrest, Chris Hollingsworth, was killed in a car crash on a freeway in 2020. The Associated Press reported at the time that he had been notified hours earlier that he would be fired for his role in Mr. Green’s fatal arrest. “Today’s indictments followed a thorough and extensive investigation by state and federal agencies,” Col. Lamar A. Davis, the head of the Louisiana State Police, said in a statement Thursday. “Any instance of excessive violence endangers public safety and is a danger to our communities. These actions are inexcusable and have no place in professional public safety services.” Mr. Greene, of Monroe, La., was pulled over shortly after midnight on May 10, 2019, by state troopers in Union Parish, east of Shreveport in northern Louisiana. Authorities initially said Mr. Green was pursued by troopers for a traffic violation and that he refused to stop and resisted arrest. His death was ruled accidental and attributed to cardiac arrest by the Union Parish Coroner. Two years later, the Associated Press published the body camera footage, which showed a completely different version of events. In the video, Mr Green is beaten, held in a chokehold and left handcuffed and face down for more than nine minutes. His family commissioned their own autopsy, which found he had suffered severe head injuries and facial injuries. The harrowing video catapulted Mr. Green’s case, which received little attention at first, nationally as tensions flared over a series of high-profile cases in recent years of black men who died in encounters with police. The increased attention has led to a tangle of overlapping investigations at the state and federal level. The State Legislature convened a special committee to look into the case and its handling by state police and elected officials. In 2020, federal investigators opened a civil rights investigation. In June, the Department of Justice announced that it had launched a broader investigation into the Louisiana State Police over allegations that officers engaged in abusive and discriminatory behavior. Colonel Davis said Thursday that the case had already prompted “fundamental improvements in our operations, training and management” within the state police. The case went to grand jury in November, brought by Union Parish District Attorney John Belton. Mr. Belton had said federal prosecutors had no objection to proceeding with the case. “This is a victory, and we’re going to take it — and we’re grateful for it,” Megan Matt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said at a news conference Thursday, alongside Ms. Hardin and other relatives. “But we will continue our relentless pursuit of accountability for these officers and everyone involved in these crimes.” However, Ms Matt said Mr Green’s death had left a painful void in his family, one that was particularly acute as Christmas approached. Mr Green, a barber, was on his way to meet his wife in Florida when he was pulled over by police. And he was reportedly in remission after a two-year battle with cancer. “For three and a half years, this was their life,” said Ron Haley, the family’s attorney, of the persistent effort “to make sure that their son, their brother, their father, their cousin, their nephew, man, he was vindicated.” C. Denise Marcelle, a state lawmaker, praised the charges but also said the blame extends beyond those officers. “I don’t want to stop at five,” he said at the press conference. “I want us to get to the root of everything that played a role in this cover-up,” said Ms. Marcel, a Baton Rouge Democrat who serves on the special committee investigating Mr. Green’s death. “We need to dive into this thing and clean house.”
