In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Polis wrote, “A fair and objective process free of real or perceived bias to investigate killings involving officers is critical.” Polis added that he is having lawyers “examine what the state can do and we are evaluating the next steps.”
On August 24, 2019, McClain was detained by three white officers as he was walking home from a convenience store, after a 911 caller described a “suspicious person,” according to a police description of the incident. McClain resisted contact with officers, the report says, and a fight ensued. In one of the officers’ body cameras, McClain is heard saying, “I am an introvert, respect the limits I am talking about.”
The body camera video shows McClain telling officers that he was trying to stop his music to listen to them, then they begin to arrest him. An officer is heard saying to another, “He just grabbed your gun, buddy.”
The video shows an officer fighting McClain on the ground.
At one point during the fight, an officer is heard saying to McClain, “If you keep playing, I’m going to take my dog out and he will bite you.”
An officer placed McClain in a carotid hold, or strangler, and passed out briefly, according to a general description of the incident provided by police. They released the hold, the report says, and he started fighting again. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they administered ketamine to sedate McClain, according to the report. According to a letter from the district attorney, McClain suffered a heart attack while in the ambulance, and was declared brain dead three days later.
An autopsy did not determine the cause of death, but listed intense physical exertion and a narrow left coronary artery as contributing factors, according to the police summary. The coroner found that the amount of ketamine in his system is a therapeutic amount.
‘He was an angel among humans’
Adams County District Attorney Dave Young declined to file criminal charges in the case at the time. In February of this year, a police review board stated: “
