Thousands of protesters wearing masks from the coronavirus pandemic marched to a police compound in Aurora, chanting, “Say your name, Elijah McClain” and “Thief by brick, wall by wall, this racist system has to disappear.”
When the police in riot gear came into view, they began chanting, “Why are you wearing riot gear? I don’t see any riot here.” One of the protesters announced that they will not storm the compound, but plan to stay around the building.
The photos were taken on October 20, 2019, at the site of the August 24, 2019 incident that involved McClain, who later died after fighting with officers. Marrero, Dittrich and Jones are in the photograph, which was taken while the three were on duty and had just completed a call, according to the department’s investigation.
Rosenblatt received the photo in a text message but did not notify a supervisor, Wilson said at a press conference. According to Wilson, when Rosenblatt received the photo, he replied, “ha ha.”
“Even thinking about doing something like that is beyond, it’s beyond understanding. It’s reprehensible,” Wilson said. “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.”
Wilson said one of the photos shows officers smiling as he recreates the way Elijah McClain was detained by cops in a choke last year. She called it “a crime against humanity and decency”.
“They’re actually recreating a carotid control,” said Wilson.
Wilson says he learned of the photos last week after an uninvolved officer saw the photo and reported it to a sergeant, who immediately notified him.
The police union, the Aurora Police Association, said the investigation of the photos was “unprecedented.”
The statement criticized Wilson and said the investigation violated the agent’s right to due process. “This investigation is hasty to judge,” according to the statement.
Dittrich also told investigators that the photo was an attempt to cheer up the other officer and that it was his idea that Jones put his arm around his neck. It was not his intention to mock McClain’s death, he said.
“I realized after this was incredible, saying it was incredibly bad taste is an understatement,” he said.
“I could have suggested it, I didn’t consider it a big deal because I didn’t mean any bad intention about it, so I thought I’d send him a ‘Hey, we’re thinking of you’ stuff,” she said.
Rosenblatt said his response to the text was intended to close the discussion.
CNN has contacted all four officers for comment and the police association for additional comments.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said Wilson made the right decision.
Wilson says he understands the devastating impact this incident has had on the relationship between the community and the police department. She believes that transparency is essential to begin to rebuild that relationship.
“It is a privilege to wear this badge, and it is not a right,” said Wilson.
Family surprised by photos
McClain’s family expressed shock after viewing the photographs of former officers at the McClain memorial site.
“This is a department with the police that dealt with an innocent young black man, inflicted fifteen minutes of multiple types of excessive force, including two carotid chokes, who stood on him joking, ‘Don’t do that to me’ while vomiting. The pain and threatened to kill him with a dog because he was not still enough while he died, “they said in a statement.
Attorney representing the McClain family, Mari Newman, said at a press conference on Friday that the family will have to file a civil rights lawsuit.
“Now my expectation is that we are going to have to go ahead and file that civil rights lawsuit because I have been told that although there are all kinds of independent investigations going on, I have been too long to trust our government to protect us,” Newman said.
McClain, a 23-year-old black man, was arrested by three white officers last August when he was walking home from a nearby store. A person who called 911 had described a “suspicious person,” according to a police description of the incident.
After McClain resisted contact with officers, a fight ensued and an officer placed McClain in a Carotid hold, or stranglehold, and passed out briefly, according to a general description of the incident provided by police.
McClain started fighting again once he was released from the hold, according to the report. When paramedics arrived, they administered the drug ketamine to sedate McClain, according to the report. McClain suffered a heart attack while in the ambulance and was declared brain dead three days later, the district attorney said in a letter.
Her death is one of several that has attracted renewed attention after the death of other black people at the hands of the police, such as George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta.
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