美国国家公共电台 NPR--5 officers are charged in the deadly 2019 arrest of a Black man in Louisiana

5 officers are charged in the deadly 2019 arrest of a Black man in Louisiana

Transcript¹

The officers in Louisiana face criminal charges in the deadly arrest of Ronald Greene after a high-speed chase. Bodycam video showed officers brutally² beating the Black driver.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Five law enforcement officers in Louisiana are now facing criminal charges in the deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene. He died in police custody³ in 2019 after a high-speed chase with state troopers. Two years later, bodycam video, initially⁴ suppressed, showed white officers brutally beating the 49-year-old Black man. These are the first charges to come in a case that has brought increased scrutiny⁵ on Louisiana state troopers and how they treat Black suspects. NPR's Debbie Elliott joins us now. Debbie, what are the charges?

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE⁶: Well, the most serious is negligent⁷ homicide, and that's the charge against Master Trooper Kory York, along with 10 counts of malfeasance in office. Now, he is the one who is shown on this bodycam video dragging Greene by ankle shackles⁸ and then putting his foot on Greene's back to force him belly⁹ down on the ground. Three other Louisiana state troopers and then a sheriff's deputy also facing charges of malfeasance and obstruction¹⁰ of justice. Now, this indictment¹¹, A, comes after a grand jury in Union Parish heard evidence for about a month now, including some testimony¹² from a medical expert who classified Greene's death a homicide. Now, that's contrary to the original coroner's report in this case that said he died from a drug-induced delirium¹³ that was complicated by a motor vehicle collision.

MART?NEZ: And a lot of the details of what happened to Ronald Greene were kind of just kept secret for a while, only emerging a while later. Remind us of those details.

ELLIOTT: So this was May in 2019. Excuse me. Greene was arrested after a high-speed chase, and authorities initially told his family he had died in a car crash near Monroe. This is in northeast Louisiana. And the case didn't really get that much attention at first. And then his family filed a lawsuit¹⁴ against state troopers, alleging¹⁵ excessive force. Now, the initial crash report said that Greene had refused to pull over on an unspecified traffic violation¹⁶ and that, once it ended in this crash, he struggled with troopers, they took him into custody and that he later became unresponsive and died on the way to the hospital. There was absolutely no mention of troopers using force.

Then this long-suppressed bodycam footage was obtained by the Associated Press last year, and it completely changed the narrative¹⁷. It showed what happened at the end of that chase. Troopers rushed Greene's car. They stunned¹⁸ him. They beat him. Again, they dragged him by his shackles. They left him facedown. And he was begging for mercy the whole time. It's really difficult to watch. Now, since that, there are so many questions about whether state police officials were involved in a cover-up and who knew what really happened and when, including the governor of Louisiana.

MART?NEZ: Has Ronald Greene's family said anything?

ELLIOTT: You know, Greene's mother, after the indictment came down - her name is Mona Hardin - she said she was excited to have the indictments¹⁹, but then she questioned - but the question is, are they really going to have to pay for this? The family has tried to keep pressure on authorities to get justice in this case, in what she considers her son's killing²⁰ at the hands of troopers. Hardin says they just want something to stick. Now, we should also note here, A, that after the indictment came down - this was late yesterday - the head of the Louisiana State Police, Colonel Lamar Davis, said the actions are inexcusable and have no place in professional public safety services.

MART?NEZ: OK. Now, these charges are from the state grand jury. Other investigations²² are happening. Who else is looking into this?

ELLIOTT: The Louisiana Legislature and the U.S. Justice Department. The Justice Department is looking into whether there's a pattern or practice of discrimination in the way Louisiana troopers treat Black suspects. And in the state investigation²¹, lawmakers want testimony from Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards after reports he saw the police cam video early on but remained silent. His office says he's cooperating.

MART?NEZ: NPR's Debbie Elliott. Debbie, thanks.

ELLIOTT: You're welcome.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

8 shackles   

手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊

参考例句：

• a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism 为摆脱殖民主义的枷锁而斗争的国家
• The cars of the train are coupled together by shackles. 火车的车厢是用钩链连接起来的。

9 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

10 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

11 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 delirium   

n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋

参考例句：

• In her delirium, she had fallen to the floor several times. 她在神志不清的状态下几次摔倒在地上。
• For the next nine months, Job was in constant delirium.接下来的九个月，约伯处于持续精神错乱的状态。

14 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

15 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

16 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

17 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

18 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

19 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

20 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

21 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

22 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。