Louisiana State Police second-in-command placed on leave for ‘sanitizing’ cell phone

In the wake of heavy criticism from state lawmakers, Louisiana State Police’s second-in-command was placed on administrative leave Friday pending an internal investigation into his involvement in the alleged cover-up of the Ronald Greene case. 

Lt. Col. Doug Cain has been under investigation for several months after he and two other high-ranking administrators ordered their agency-issued cell phones “sanitized,” or wiped clean of all data, in the wake of the probe into the other troopers seen on video beating Greene, a Black motorist who died in their custody following a vehicle pursuit in May 2019. 

Body-camera footage showed Greene had surrendered and was lying on the side of a Union Parish highway before white troopers kicked, dragged, beat and shocked him with stun guns. He later died in custody, yet troopers allegedly told Greene’s family his death was the result of a crash that ended the police chase. 

Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis, who chose Cain as his second-in-command, had initially declined to place him on administrative leave. On Thursday, however, state lawmakers on a committee that is investigating the Greene case, grilled Davis and urged him to reconsider some of his decisions.

Davis initially defended his decisions as a matter of policy but appeared to change his mind by the end of Thursday’s committee meeting and issued the following statement on Friday:

“This morning, I placed Lt. Colonel Doug Cain on paid administrative leave pending the ongoing administrative investigation into the sanitization of his department cellular device. The decision to place him on leave was made in the best interest of the department to eliminate any questions into the integrity of the investigation. I am confident the investigation will be conducted in a fair and unbiased manner leaving no concerns of its findings.”