Three police officers from Aurora, Colorado have been fired for photos showing two of them smiling and mocking the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist who was arrested and put in a choke last August. Mr. McClain died several days later.
Vanessa Wilson, acting chief of the Aurora Police Department, said she fired officers Friday morning for improper conduct. A fourth officer resigned Tuesday.
“While the allegations in this internal affairs case are not criminal, it is a crime against humanity and decency,” Chief Wilson said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Even thinking about doing such a thing is beyond comprehension and is reprehensible. It shows a lack of morals, values and integrity, and a judgment that I can no longer trust to allow them to wear this badge. ”
Chief Wilson shook her head when she revealed a photo of officers Erica Marrero, Kyle Dittrich and Jaron Jones smiling in selfies they took last October near a monument that had been held in memory of Mr. McClain. Another photo showed Officer Dittrich smiling broadly as Officer Jones put an arm around his neck. Officer Marrero smiles in the background.
The photos were sent to Officer Jason Rosenblatt, one of the three officers who arrested Mr. McClain last summer.
He replied “haha,” according to Chief Wilson. Officer Rosenblatt, who has been with the department for three years, was fired Friday along with officers Marrero and Dittrich. Officer Jones resigned Tuesday.
“I am thoroughly disgusted,” said Chief Wilson, who apologized multiple times to Mr. McClain’s family during the press conference. He also apologized to police officers across the country, whose reputation, he said, was unfairly damaged by the actions of agents in his department.
On August 24, 2019, Mr. McClain was walking home from a convenience store when someone called 911, saying he “looked lazy” and was wearing a ski mask and waving his arms.
The police arrived and, although Mr. McClain had not been charged with any crime, they began to contain him.
In the blurred body camera footage of the arrest, Mr. McClain can be heard telling officers that he is introverted and that they want to be left alone.
One of the officers is heard saying that McClain searched for another officer’s gun, but that cannot be seen in the images.
The encounter intensifies as officers threaten to use a Taser if he doesn’t stop fighting. One of the officers places him in a carotid cellar, which restricts blood to the brain to render someone unconscious.
“I can’t breathe,” Mr. McClain is heard panting. “Please stop.”
After the paramedics arrived, they injected Mr. McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative.
On the way to a hospital, Mr. McClain suffered cardiac arrest. He died three days later.
Mr. McClain’s case is one of many deadly encounters between blacks and police that are receiving new scrutiny after George Floyd’s death in May, which took his breath away when a Minneapolis police officer put his knee on the neck.
After Floyd’s death, celebrities began sharing McClain’s story on social media. More than four million people have signed an online petition demanding that the officers involved in his arrest be held responsible for his death.
During the spring, McClain’s mother urged state lawmakers to enact radical changes in police tactics, including a ban on the use of strangleholds. The city of Aurora banned carotid control last month.
However, the photographs did not appear until last week, when Chief Wilson said she learned about them from another department official who was “upset” by them and reported the incident to a supervisor.
That unidentified officer learned of the photos in March and fought for months for what he should do, Chief Wilson said.
He added that he stepped forward after talking to his wife and realizing that no one planned to say anything about the images.
“There are police officers who have integrity,” said Chief Wilson. “They understand duty and they understand honor.”
She added: “These four don’t understand it.”
Chief Wilson said officers told him they took the photo to “cheer” on Nathan Woodyard, one of three officers involved in Mr. McClain’s arrest.
Officers Rosenblatt, Woodyard, and Randy Roedema were placed on administrative leave after Mr. McClain’s death and then reinstated. Dave Young, the Adams County District Attorney, decided not to file criminal charges against the officers, citing an autopsy report indicating that the pathologist was unable to connect the officers’ actions with Mr. McClain’s death.
The FBI and the Department of Justice are investigating Mr. McClain’s death, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis has asked the state attorney general to investigate the case, Chief Wilson said.
Chief Wilson said Officer Woodyard also received a copy of the photos, but did not respond and immediately deleted them.
She said Officer Woodyard told her that he was “extremely disturbed” by the photos.
Chief Wilson said he met with Mr. McClain’s mother on Friday morning to show her the photos before they were released.
“No one has the right to see these images before she sees them,” said Chief Wilson. “This is your son. Her son scoffed.
Mari Newman, an attorney for Mr. McClain’s family, compared the photos to images of people smiling next to the bodies of black people who had been lynched.
“What we have seen are photos of Aurora police officers taking photos as racists in South Jim Crow,” he said during a press conference Friday near the memorial site.
In an email, Ms. Newman said that viewing those photos was an “instinctive blow” to Mr. McClain’s parents.
“They were stunned by the callousness and depravity of those officers,” Newman said.
He described the apartment on Friday as “rotten to the core.”
Officers Dittrich and Jones were hired in 2016. Officer Marrero joined the department in 2018.
The Aurora Police Association, which represents department officials, said “the internal investigation was conducted in an unprecedented manner.”
The union said officers were ordered to be interviewed on short notice, had little time to prepare for their disciplinary process, and had their phones confiscated.
“All of these steps ordered by Acting Chief Wilson were violations of the officer’s due process rights,” the union said in a statement. “This investigation is a rush to judge.”
Chief Wilson said officers voluntarily turned in their phones. She said she had every right to expedite the disciplinary process, noting that she gave officers three days to provide more information before making her final decision.
“None of them sent me any additional information,” said Chief Wilson.
Chief Wilson said he planned to meet with community leaders to get their comments on how the department could regain the city’s trust.
She said the Police Department had changed its directive on how to respond to the type of 911 calls that led to Mr. McClain’s death. Chief Wilson said the department was also reviewing its training procedures.
“You shouldn’t have to teach this,” he said. “There is no training that should teach human decency.”
