One of the three white police officers who arrested Elijah McClain in Colorado was fired for photos showing colleagues representing the stranglehold used on the black man before he died last year, authorities said Friday.
After receiving a text message with the images, he replied: “haha”.
Police arrested McClain as he was walking down the street last August for “suspicion,” and Aurora officer Jason Rosenblatt attempted to use a stranglehold on the 23-year-old, but was unable due to his position, so another officer did so. , a report by prosecutors said.
Two months later, Rosenblatt received photos of three fellow officers who smiled as they mimicked a strangler near where McClain was detained, which had become a public monument.
A visibly shaken acting police chief, Vanessa Wilson, attacked the four officers involved with the photos, saying her explanation was that they were “trying to cheer up a friend by sending that photo.”
“We are ashamed, we are sick and we are angry,” Wilson said. Officers may not have committed a crime, but the photographs are “a crime against humanity and decency,” he added.
After an internal investigation, Wilson fired Rosenblatt and two of the officers who appeared in the photos for improper conduct by an officer. The officer who re-enacted the choke in the photos resigned this week.
The Aurora Police Association, the officers’ union, called it “a rush to judge.” She said on Facebook that the investigation took nine days, while a standard internal affairs case takes months.
McClain’s death received new attention after recent nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice, and several law enforcement agencies have taken swift steps to punish and, in some cases, indict officers, including those involved in the George Floyd died May 25 in Minneapolis.
Under mounting pressure, Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis last week ordered the state’s attorney general to reopen McClain’s case after prosecutors cleared officers who confronted him last year.
Two officers, including the one who put McClain in a choke, are still in the force as authorities investigate possible criminal charges. Federal officials are also investigating a possible civil rights investigation.
The news of the photos came shortly after Polis’ announcement. Aurora police launched an investigation last week after another officer reported the photos.
“The fact that three uniformed police officers on duty thought it was appropriate to recreate the murder, jokingly, shows that the department is rotten to the core,” said Mari Newman, an attorney for the McClain family, who viewed the photos. before they were published. Elijah’s mother, Sheneen McClain, also saw them.
“For her, it was devastating to see people making fun of her son’s murder,” Newman added.
Last weekend, police used pepper spray to break a peaceful violin vigil in honor of McClain.
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