The family of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died last year after police officers in Aurora, Colorado, put him in a chokehold and then injected him with ketamine while he was in handcuffs, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that claimed that the officers violated his civil rights.
The lawsuit, filed in Colorado District Court, names the city of Aurora, several police officers, two paramedics and a medical director of the fire department.
“Elijah was listening to music, enjoying the short walk home from the corner store with some ice tea when Aurora police arrested, assaulted and abused him,” the court said in connection with his detention on August 24, 2019.
“In a span of eighteen minutes, defenders subjected Elijah to a process of needless and brutal force techniques and unnecessary, reckless administration of medication, the combined effects of which he could not survive,” the suit said.
McClain was deprived of life support and died days later, on August 30.
The arrest came after Aurora police arrived at 24:34 on Aug. 24 at 10:32 p.m. “A ‘suspicious person’ was driving on Billings Street near East Colfax Avenue, wearing a ski mask and wiping his arms on the caller,” officials said.
McClain’s family said he often wore a ski mask when he felt cold. According to weather reports, it would have been the night of the arrest in the mid to high 60s.
“The man would not stop walking in the officer’s street,” according to a police statement at the time. “The man resisted contact, a fight ensued, and he was seized.”
At one point, officers called an ambulance. Authorities later said McClain “had a cardiac arrest and life-saving measures were initiated.”
The referee for Adams and Broomfield counties attributed the death of McClain to “unspecified causes.” But the crown leader did not rule out if the police chokehold – in addition to the sedative ketamine, injected by paramedics into McClain – may have contributed to his death.
Adams County District Attorney Dave Young chose not to prosecute the officers involved, saying he, with enough evidence, could not resist gaining a conviction, the officers’ assertion that they were right to use the level of violence that they deploy.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has appointed a special prosecutor to re-evaluate the case.
“Public confidence in our law enforcement process is now incredibly important more than ever,” he said. Police said. “An honest and objective process free of real or perceived bias for investigating officer-involved murders is critical.”
A Aurora police spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The city of Aurora said it was hearing the case and could not comment. The Aurora Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The three officers involved in the arrest of McClain were transferred to “non-enforcement” duties in late June after the death came under renewed public control.
Mari Newman, a family lawyer, said Tuesday in a statement that the McClains want justice.
“Elijah Javon McClain was 23 years old when he was murdered by Aurora police and paramedics. ‘Elijah’s killers dared the light of a beautiful young man who loved all beings,’ ‘Newman said.
“His compassion for animals was so strong that he played his violin for cats at animal shelters, believing that music loses its loneliness, and he was so determined to harm another living being that he would chase flies away instead of chasing them. sweating, “she said. “Yet when the officers of the Aurora Police Department confronted Elijah on the evening of August 24, 2019, they saw none of the kindness and gentleness for which he was known, but simply another Black man in America.”
