Elijah McClain, 24.08.2019. Suffocated and drugged – Aurora (CO)

Elijah McClain was a massage therapist, a keen musician and a runner. He went into a coma after he was stopped by police in Aurora, Colorado, in August as he walked home from a convenience store where he was buying iced teas.

Elijah McClain was stopped by three officers after a 911 caller reported a suspicious person wearing a ski mask walking along Billings Street in Aurora, according to a police news release. That report says that he “resisted contact” with officers before a struggle ensued. “I’m an introvert,” McClain is heard saying in police bodycam footage after officers confront him. “Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.” Before an officer wrestles him to the ground, Elijah McClain is heard telling the officers he was trying to stop his music so that he could listen to them. A letter from the Adams County District Attorney said an officer placed him in a carotid hold, which restricts blood flow to the brain. He briefly lost consciousness, the letter said, but continued struggling after officers released the hold. The DA’s letter said paramedics arrived and administered ketamine, a powerful anesthetic. Elijah McClain was taken to a hospital but had a heart attack on the way. He was declared brain dead three days later, on August 27, the letter says.

The autopsy conducted by the county coroner did not determine the cause of death but noted “intense physical exertion and a narrow left coronary artery” were contributing factors. The report noted Elijah McClain‘s history of asthma and the carotid hold, though the autopsy did not determine whether it contributed to his death. The concentration of ketamine in his system was at a “therapeutic level,” the report said. Ultimately, his death could have been an accident, the result of natural causes or a homicide, the autopsy concluded.

Three officers involved, Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt, and Randy Roedema, were initially placed on administrative leave, but they were later reinstated when prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. In a November 2019 letter to Aurora’s then-police chief, District Attorney Dave Young wrote that his office did not find enough evidence to prove the officers violated Colorado law or that their use of force was unjustified. A police review board said in February that the use of force, including the carotid hold, “was within policy and consistent with training.”

Body-cam footage of the arrest does exist, although the ADP did not release it to the public until late November, months after his death. In the footage, an officer can be heard admitting Elijah McClain had done nothing illegal prior to his arrest; another accuses him of reaching for one of their guns. He, meanwhile, can be heard asking the officers to stop, explaining that they started to arrest him as he was “stopping [his] music to listen.” He gasps that he cannot breathe. He tells them his name, says he has ID but no gun, and pleads that his house is “right there.” He sobs, and vomits, and apologizes: “I wasn’t trying to do that,” he says. “I just can’t breathe correctly.” One of the officers can also be heard threatening to set his dog on hm if he “keep[s] messing around,” and claiming he exhibited an extreme show of strength when officers tried to pin back his arms.

Very little of the officers’ protocol can be seen, however, because all of their body cams allegedly fell off during the arrest. But if you watch the video from about the 15-minute mark (warning: the footage contains violent and upsetting content), you’ll see someone pick up the body camera and point it toward Elijah McClain and one of the officers, before dropping it back into the grass. Around 15:34, one of the officers seems to say, “Leave your camera there.”

Nearly a year after the fatal incident, none of the officers involved have been fired and are yet to face any criminal charges. Following public outcry – especially after the police killing of George Floyd in May – the Colorado governor, Jared Polis, announced that the appointment of the state attorney general, Phil Weiser, to investigate. On August 24, 2020, Weiser confirmed he was conducting a separate investigation into the police department and whether its “patterns and practices” are unconstitutional. Additionally, the city of Aurora has commissioned its own investigation of the police department, hiring an outside consultant to conduct a “comprehensive review.”

The family lawsuit filed by their attorney Mari Newman on August 11, 2020 listed nine claims for relief, including excessive force; denial of equal protection; failure to ensure basic safety and provide adequate medical care and treatment; substantive due process — deprivation of liberty — forcible administration of medication; battery causing wrongful death; and negligence causing wrongful death.