A grisly photo of Ronald Greene's body challenged the police narrative of his death months before footage emerged showing troopers beating him

• The family of a Black man who died in police custody released a grisly photo of his injuries last year.
• Louisiana State Police had said Ronald Greene died "on impact" after crashing into a tree.
• Body camera footage recently obtained by the AP shows troopers dragging and kicking Greene.
• Warning: This story contains a graphic image.

The family of Ronald Greene, a Black man who died in Louisiana State Police custody in 2019, had released a grisly photo last year that showed the extent of the injuries he suffered and called the circumstances of his death into question.

"We were told that he died in a high-speed chase of head injuries after crashing into a tree," Greene's mother, Mona Hardin, told the AP in September 2020. "There was no major damage to the car."

The photo showed injuries to Greene's face that appeared more severe than the superficial damage to the car involved in a crash that troopers initially said killed him. Police later said there was a struggle between Greene and troopers before he died.

Then on Wednesday, the Associated Press published body camera footage police had refused to release for two years, which showed troopers stunning, hitting, and dragging Greene before his death.

If the photo of Greene's body raised questions about the the initial police narrative, the newly released body camera footage shattered it.

The footage, which is graphic and more than 46 minutes long, shows one trooper putting Greene in a chokehold on the ground and punching him in the face. Another officer calls Greene a "stupid motherf---er."

Greene yells, "I'm sorry," while a trooper stuns him on his backside. The trooper tells Greene, "Look, you're going to get it again if you don't put your f---ing hands behind your back." A different officer drags Greene facedown after he's restrained with handcuffs.

The troopers leave Greene lying facedown and moaning for more than nine minutes as they clean themselves up, the AP reported.

The exact cause of Greene's death remains unclear. A Union Parish coroner told the AP last year that he had ruled the death accidental and attributed it to cardiac arrest.

The photos of Greene's body show bruises on his face and head. Attorneys for his family told the AP at the time that they weren't sure of the source of the photos, but that they were consistent with injuries identified in an independent autopsy.

Warning, the following image is graphic:

A medical report obtained by the AP shows an emergency-room doctor said Greene was dead when he arrived at the hospital and had two stun-gun prongs in his back.

The state police did not open an investigation into the incident until 474 days after Greene died. Greene's arrest is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.

The Greene family attorney, S. Lee Merritt, didn't immediately return Insider's message seeking comment.