An independent investigation into the Aurora police was released

Aurora’s policemen had no legal basis to force Elijah McClain to stop walking, search him or strangle him, an independent investigation commissioned by the city revealed.

The initial investigation of the incident led by department detectives at the Serious Crimes Unit was also deeply flawed, the investigators found. Detectives did not ask basic and critical questions to the officers involved in McClain’s death, and instead, “the questions often seemed designed to extract a specific exonerating ‘magic language’ found in court decisions,” the report said.

The detectives’ report was entrusted by the department’s strength review board, as well as by the 17th District Judicial District Attorney’s Office, both of whom cleared offending officers.

“In addition, the report of the Serious Crimes Unit extended the record to clear the police, instead of presenting a neutral version of the facts,” the investigators wrote.

“It is difficult to imagine any other people involved in a fatal incident being interviewed as these officers were,” continued the investigators.

Aurora city officials released Monday’s 157-page report on McClain’s death on Monday at the hands of city police and paramedics. The city hired a panel of investigators to examine the decision by police and paramedics and make policy recommendations “to lessen the chance of another tragedy like this happening again,” the report said.

The panel’s recommendations include a review of the police department’s accountability system and a review of policy, training and practice in relation to patterns of arrest and use of force.

“The audio from the camera next to the body, the limited video and Major Crime interviews with police officers tell two contrasting stories,” says the report. “Statements by police officers at the scene and in subsequent recorded interviews suggest a violent and relentless struggle. The limited video and audio from the cameras used on the body reveal Mr. McClain surrounded by police officers, all of them bigger than him, screaming in pain, apologizing, explaining and pleading to the police. “

The investigators also found that Aurora’s paramedics did not properly examine McClain before injecting him with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine – a dose based on a “grossly inaccurate” estimate of McClain’s weight. Paramedics estimated that he weighed 190 pounds, but in fact he weighed close to 140 pounds.

“Aurora Fire appears to have accepted the police officers’ impression that Mr. McClain excited the delusion without corroborating that impression through significant observation or a diagnostic examination of Mr. McClain,” the investigators wrote.

The outside consultants hired to conduct the investigation delivered their findings to the Aurora city government on Monday morning – the first findings made public following several ongoing investigations into the incident that are taking place at all levels of government.

Aurora government leaders commissioned the investigation on July 20, when McClain’s 2019 death drew international attention. Widespread protests of police brutality against blacks exploded in the summer of 2020 after the assassination of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police and dozens of protests and vigils were held on behalf of McClain.

The investigation included a review of relevant city policies, procedures and practices, including how police and firefighters interact with people, their use of force, their use of sedative ketamine and how the city analyzes incidents. The investigators’ request to interview the police and paramedics involved was declined, however.

The investigation was led by Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Smith previously led the section of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice that conducted the investigation in the Ferguson, Missouri police department after Michael Brown’s death.

Aurora City Council is scheduled to discuss the report’s findings at a special meeting at 5 pm on Monday. The public can attend the meeting on AuroraTV.org or on the Comcast 8/880 channels in Aurora.

The results of the investigation initiated by the city are the first to become public after several ongoing investigations into McClain’s death. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has asked a grand jury to examine the case and see if any criminal charges are justified and the U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating whether law enforcement officials violated McClain’s civil rights.

McClain’s family has also filed a federal lawsuit against Aurora.

Three Aurora police officers arrested McClain on August 24, 2019, after receiving a 911 call about a suspected person. When McClain refused to stop walking, the police took him to the ground, choked him and handcuffed him before a paramedic injected ketamine with McClain, a powerful sedative.

McClain suffered a cardiac arrest en route to the hospital, where he was later declared brain dead. He was removed from the life support device on August 30, 2019. McClain was not suspected of a crime.

The Adams County coroner determined that McClain’s cause of death was undetermined and the 17th District Judicial District Attorney concluded that the three police officers who violently detained him were not criminally responsible. A review of the incident by the police department concluded that the three officers did not violate any policy and were not punished. Both the chief of police and the public prosecutor who made these decisions left their positions.