Three Aurora, Colorado police officers linked to the August 2019 death of 23-year-old black man Elijah McClain have been reassigned to “non-compliance” roles as the case faces new investigation, according to reports.
Officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema now have duties that do not involve direct contact with the public, such as administrative duties or paperwork, FOX 31 of Denver reported. Woodyard and Rosenblatt were reassigned on June 13, while Roedema received a new role on June 20, the station reported.
Concern for the officers’ safety was a consideration in the movements, a spokesman for the Aurora Police Department told the station. Several police and city officials have faced death threats in recent weeks in connection with the McClain case, the police spokesman said.
COLORADO GOVERNOR MOVES TO OPEN 2019 BLACK MAN DEATH INVESTIGATION PUT INTO POLICE CHOKEHOLD
On Thursday, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order directing the state attorney general to investigate and possibly prosecute officers, who were previously free of wrongdoing in McClain’s death.
“Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe it to his family to take this step and raise the quest for justice on his behalf to state concern,” Polis said Thursday.
On Friday, McClain’s family attorney said that she and her family members had been conducting their own investigation into the actions of police officers. Mari Newman told The Associated Press that she suspects government investigations of cases of alleged police misconduct.
“After more than two decades of doing this work, my experience is that families cannot trust the government to monitor itself,” Newman said. “And so my job is to continue to seek justice through the civil justice system, so we are doing our own research and preparing a civil rights lawsuit.”
Newman declined to provide details of his investigation.
Protesters gather for a press conference on November 23, 2019 at the Aurora Municipal Center after the police department released body camera footage of Elijah McClain, who died after being detained by three officers from Aurora in August 2019. (Associated Press)
Since George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25, resulting in layoffs and criminal charges against four officers, and sparked protests and riots across the country over claims of police brutality, other cases in the United States in those who interacted black people Police officers, who sometimes lead to death, have been receiving new scrutiny.
Aurora police responded to a call about a suspicious person wearing a ski mask and waving his arms while walking down a street on August 24.
Police body camera video shows an officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain and saying, “Stop there. Stop. Stop. … I have the right to stop you because you are suspicious. “
Police say McClain refused to stop walking and defended himself when officers confronted him and tried to stop him.
In the video, the officer turns McClain over and repeats, “Stop tensing up.”
As McClain tries to escape the officer’s control, the officer says, “Relax, or I will have to change this situation.”
When other officers unite 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 officers put him in a stranglehold that cuts off blood to the brain, something that has been banned in several places following Floyd’s death in Minnesota.
In the video, McClain says to the officers: “Let me go. I’m an introvert. Please respect the limits I’m talking about. “Those words have appeared in dozens of social media posts demanding justice for McClain.
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He was on the ground for 15 minutes while several officers and paramedics waited. Paramedics gave him 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine to calm him, and he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. McClain was declared brain dead on August 27 and was removed from life support three days later.
A forensic pathologist was unable to determine what exactly led to his death, but said that the physical exertion during the confrontation likely contributed.
The police department put the three officers on leave at the time, but they forcibly returned when District Attorney Dave Young said there was insufficient evidence to support them.
Frank Miles and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.
