The Colorado governor on Thursday ordered prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man put in a stranglehold by police who stopped him on the street in Denver’s suburbs last year because he was “ suspecting. “
Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order ordering state attorney general Phil Weiser to investigate and possibly prosecute the three white officers previously cleared of McClain’s death. McClain’s name became a rallying cry during the national trial on racism and police brutality after the deaths of George Floyd and others.
“Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe his family to take that step and elevate the search for justice on his behalf to a state concern,” said Polis in a statement.
He said he had spoken to McClain’s mother and was moved by her description of her son as a “responsible and curious child … who could inspire the darkest soul.”
Aurora police responded to a call about a suspicious person wearing a ski mask and waving their arms while walking down a street on August 24. Video from the police corps camera shows a policeman getting out of the car, approaching McClain and saying, “Stop right there. Stop. Stop. … I have a right to stop you because you are suspicious. “
The police say McClain refused to stop walking and reacted when the police confronted him and tried to arrest him.
In the video, the policeman turns to McClain and repeats: “Stop getting tense”. As McClain tries to escape the policeman’s clutches, the policeman says, “Relax, or I will have to change this situation.”
While other cops get together to contain McClain, he begs them to let him go and says, “You guys started arresting me and I was stopping my music to listen.”
One of the policemen put him in a strangulation that cuts blood to the brain, something that was banned in several places after Floyd’s death on May 25 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer and the global protests that followed.
In the video, McClain tells the police: “Let me go. I am an introvert Please respect the limits I am talking about. ”These words appeared in dozens of social media posts demanding justice for McClain.
He stayed on the ground for 15 minutes while several policemen and paramedics waited. Paramedics gave him 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine to calm him down, and he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. McClain was declared brain dead on August 27 and was removed from the life support device three days later.
A forensic pathologist was unable to determine what exactly led to his death, but said that the physical effort during the confrontation probably contributed.
McClain’s younger sister, Samara McClain, told The Denver Post shortly after her death that her brother was going to a corner store to buy tea for a cousin and often wore masks when he was out of the house because he had a problem of blood that made him get cold easily.
In the video, Elijah McClain sobs as he repeatedly tells the cops, “I’m just different.” Samara McClain said her brother was a massage therapist and planned to go to college.
The Police Department put the three officers on leave, but they forcibly returned when public prosecutor Dave Young said there was not enough evidence to support their prosecution.
“Ultimately, while I can share the vast public opinion that Elijah McClain’s death could have been prevented, it is not my role to bring criminal charges based on opinion, but on the evidence revealed by the Colorado investigation and applicable law , Young said shortly before Polis ordered the investigation to reopen.
Aurora police said interim police chief Vanessa Wilson would not comment to avoid interfering with the investigation.
Mari Newman, the McClain family lawyer, said she was pleased with the governor’s decision.
“Clearly, Aurora has no intention of taking responsibility for the murder of an innocent young man,” she said. “All your effort is to defend your brutality at all costs and to lie to the public that it should serve. It is time for a responsible adult to intervene. “
Colorado’s attorney general said in a statement that the investigation will be complete and “worthy of public trust and the criminal justice system.”
Nieberg is a member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.
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