The Governor of Colorado has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, a Black man who died in 2019 after being placed in a chokehold by police while walking home from a convenience store.
If evidence permits it, the prosecutor will be free to pursue criminal charges against those involved in McClain’s death.
“Elijah McClain should be alive today,” Governor Jared Polis said in a statement, “and we owe it to his family to take this step and elevate the pursuit of justice in his name to a statewide concern.”
The circumstances of McClain’s death have faced renewed scrutiny after the death of George Floyd, who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer last month.
The Denver Post reports officers from Aurora Police Department responded to a call regarding a suspicious person on the evening of August 24, 2019, and approached McClain as he was walking down the street.
Bodycam footage from the incident shows McClaim wearing a ski mask. His family says McClain often wore masks to help with his anaemia, which made it difficult for him to stay warm.
Officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema approached McClain, who refused to stop. Despite McClain not committing a crime, the officers restrained him almost immediately.
“Let go of me,” McClain said. “I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.”
The officers brought McClain to the ground, where he was placed in a “carotid control hold”, which involves placing an arm around someone’s neck to restrict blood flow to the brain.
McClain vomited during the struggle, telling officers, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to do that, I can’t breathe correctly.”
Paramedics were called to the scene, where they injected McClain with the sedative ketamine. He went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital, where he died several days later.
The coroner’s report, released in November 2019, ruled that McClain’s cause of death was “undetermined”. The three officers involved were placed on administrative leave after McClain’s death, but subsequently returned to their duties.
The family’s lawyer Mari Newman described McClain as a “gentle, peaceful man” who played violin for strays at an animal shelter “so they wouldn’t be lonely”.
Attorney General Phil Weiser has now been appointed to investigate the case.
“We need to do a better job, and at a bare minimum they deserve a thorough review of the case,” Polis said.
