Aurora Police Under Investigation After Elijah McClain’s Death

The Aurora Police Department is under investigation by the Colorado attorney general to see if there are “patterns and practices… that might deprive individuals of the constitutional rights” after the death of a 23-year-old Black man in their custody, Elijah McClain.

According to McClain’s family, he was walking home after buying iced tea from a corner store when he came across Aurora police, who were responding to a report of a "suspicious person." The victim was wearing long sleeves and a ski mask he needed because he had a blood condition that made him feel cold, his family says.

The family filed a federal lawsuit the same day as Tuesday’s (8/11) investigation announcement saying that their loved one’s civil rights were invaded when officers put him in a chokehold while paramedics injected him with a huge dose of ketamine on August 24, 2019. Days after the incident, McClain died.

The investigation is said to have been going on for “several weeks now” and is also a part of an extensive law enforcement accountability bill signed into law in June, according to a statement from Attorney General Phil Weiser.

The Aurora Police Department tweeted that Weiser reached out to Police Chief Vanessa Wilson on Tuesday, and that the department is "steadfast in our commitment to transparency and earning the trust of our community back."

Another incident happened this month with the police department after a video went viral of officers wrongfully pulling over a Black family of females ages 6 to 17, and making them lay face-down on the ground with guns drawn on them. A couple of them were also handcuffed. Officers thought the car they were driving was stolen after a report of a stolen motorcycle earlier in the day. It turned out to be the tags on the victims’ car and the stolen motorcycle had the same license plate number but were in different states.

Chief Wilson later apologized calling the incident “traumatic and horrific.”

Photos: Getty Images


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