‘I wouldn’t know how,’ Gov. Edwards defends position he did not obscure Ronald Greene investigation

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) -The governor came out strongly tonight saying accusations he tried to obscure or misconstrue Ronald Greene’s death while in LSP custody were categorically false.

This was after reports of a text message the governor received from top officials at the state police shortly after Greene’s death.

Governor Edwards added an investigation led by state lawmakers into his knowledge of the Ronald Greene case would be unnecessary and a witch-hunt, emphasizing how he says he was never involved in the investigation.

“That is not who I am. I wouldn’t know how to go about it to ask someone to delay an investigation to gain some sort of advantage,” said Edwards.

Following reports of a 2019 text message from then-Louisiana state police superintendent Kevin Reeves to the governor hours after Greene’s deadly arrest, the Governor’s office has come under the scrutiny of how much the governor knew especially as initial reports said Greene was killed in a car crash.

“I do want to say again, at no time, have I said to anyone in public or in private that Mr. Green died in a car wreck,” said Edwards. “I will reiterate the way we all saw Mr. Green being treated by law enforcement on those videos. Certainly should have never happened but more emphatically should never ever happened again.”

“We know the DOJ is looking at it and that the governor did nothing wrong, but hope with the senate committee we have that there will be more answers with this situation,” said state Representative Vincent Pierre, chairman of the Black Caucus.

Edwards said he had a beneficial discussion with members of the Black Caucus regarding his level of knowledge of the Greene case.

“It’s justice for the family, the Greene family, suffering from the death of their family member. We’re concerned and hope he addresses those issues and we can put those to bed,” said Pierre. “There are several officers on board that brutally beat this guy and several guys are white guys so we want to make sure he addresses those issues.”

“Everything that happens in the state legislature is political. That’s unfortunate. But that’s a fact. And by political, I mean it’s partisan,” said political analyst Dr. Robert Collins.

As federal investigations dive deeper, political analyst Dr. Robert Collins says state legislators may move to investigate the governor as well if members have an appetite to do so. Keep in mind this comes during a very partisan and racially-charged redistricting special session.

“The Republicans in the state legislature and the governor have very, very different maps that they will be proposing. So there’s going to be a tremendous amount of conflict over those maps. And so if certain members of the legislature see this as an opportunity to weaken the governor’s hand, you know, during a redistricting session, then then I believe, you know, they’re going to do that because it’s, it’s basically it’s a giant chess game,” said Collins.

The governor maintains there are lots to do to make sure no family goes through what the Greene family has gone through.

“There are some people in whom racism is so entrenched that they’re just going to have to be separated from their badge as soon as possible,” said Governor Edwards.

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