Black Man (Elijah McClain) Murdered By Choke Hold In Colorado By Police

[Knicksman20]

After boycotting a previous tournament match to show her support for the victims of police violence, Naomi Osaka is taking more steps to raise awareness during the US Open.

The Japanese tennis star -- who is currently the highest-paid female athlete in the world -- took the court at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Sunday for her fourth round matchup, sporting a black face mask emblazoned with the name "Trayvon Martin."

In 2012, Martin, a Florida teen, was shot and killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted of the killing.

"Actually I have a lot to say about this. I remember Trayvon’s death clearly. I remember being a kid and just feeling scared, irreverent info but I actually didn’t wear hoodies for years cause I wanted to decrease the odds of 'looking suspicious,'" Osaka captioned a photo of her mask on Instagram. "I know his death wasn’t the first, but for me it was the one that opened my eyes to what was going on. I remember watching the events unfold on TV and wondering what was taking so long, why was justice not being served. To see the same things happening over and over still is sad. Things have to change."



At Friday's match, Osaka's mask had the name "Ahmaud Arbery." Arbery was killed on Feb. 23 after he was chased by three white men while jogging. Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, were indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Arbery in June.

"This did not have to happen, none of these deaths had to happen," she told reporters ahead of her match, and victory, against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. "I just want everyone to know the names more."



Osaka has been wearing masks to pay tribute to victims of police violence, and told reporters that she brought seven different masks to the US Open -- one for every stage of competition until the finals.

At last Monday's first round match, she wore a mask in honor of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT who was killed on March 13 in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, by Louisville Metro Police. She and boyfriend Kenneth Walker were in their own home when police made a late-night raid on the wrong address, looking for someone who had been taken into police custody hours earlier. Taylor was shot eight times. Though one officer was fired months after the incident, none of the officers involved have been arrested or charged.

At Wednesday's match, Osaka honored Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died last year after officers in suburban Denver put him in a choke hold and paramedics injected him with a sedative.

"It’s quite sad that seven masks isn’t enough for the amount of names, so hopefully I’ll get to the finals so you can see all of them,” Osaka said last Monday.

“I’m aware that tennis is watched all over the world, and maybe there is someone that doesn’t know Breonna Taylor’s story. Maybe they’ll, like, Google it or something,” Osaka added. “For me, (it’s about) just spreading awareness. I feel like the more people know the story, then the more interesting or interested they’ll become in it.”

The tennis star sat out her semifinal match at the Western & Southern Open last month, following the police shooting of Wisconsin man Jacob Blake in protest against racial injustice and "the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police."

"Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman. As a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis," Osaka wrote a statement posted to her social media accounts on Wednesday.

"Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach,” continued the athlete, who grew up in the United States, but represents her mother's home country of Japan in international competition. “I’m exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I’m extremely tired of having this same conversation over and over again. When will it ever be enough?"

"I don't expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction," she added.



However, Osaka ultimately returned to the event to defeat Elise Mertens in the rescheduled semifinal match, before pulling out of the final match due to injury.

"I was (and am) ready and prepared to concede the match to my opponent,” she said in a statement prior to her semifinal. "However, after my announcement and lengthy consultation with the WTA and USTA, I have agreed at their request to play on Friday. They offered to postpone all matches until Friday and in my mind that brings more attention to the movement. I want to thank the WTA and the Tournament for their support."

Osaka joined many major athletes with her decision to sit out from major competitions in protest. Milwaukee Bucks players didn't take the court for Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series against the Orlando Magic, which led to a league-wide boycott and rescheduling of finals games and the announcement of new social justice and voting initiatives by the league. Players from the WNBA, MLB, MLS and more also boycotted competition in solidarity.

Naomi Osaka Honors Trayvon Martin With Another Mask at US Open

 

[Knicksman20]

Colorado City Bans Ketamine Use Amid Elijah McClain Probe

City council members in a Denver suburb have voted to ban the use of a powerful sedative by first responders until officials finish a review of its use in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man put in a stranglehold by officers and injected with the drug, ketamine.


The ban in the city of Aurora, adopted unanimously on Monday, will stay in effect until the city-sponsored independent investigation of McClain's death is complete, the Sentinel reported Tuesday. Federal and state officials are conducting separate investigations.

McClain was stopped by Aurora police in August 2019 after a 911 caller reported a person on the sidewalk wearing a ski mask and waving his arms.

Officers put the 23-year-old in a stranglehold and paramedics later injected him with 500 milligrams of ketamine — 1.5 times the correct dose for his weight, according to medical standards. He suffered cardiac arrest and was taken off life support six days later.

The city council members' decision came after concerns from several groups about the growing use of ketamine by first responders when police believe suspects are out of control. McClain was injected with ketamine after first responders said he suffered “excited delirium.”

But the Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists warned last week against the use strong sedatives for agitation and questioned whether excited delirium exists. The widely contested medical term has varying definitions but is often associated with substance abuse and mental illness.

The anesthesiologists also said that they oppose the use of ketamine or other sedatives or hypnotics “for a law enforcement purpose and not for a legitimate medical reason.”

The Colorado health department last month announced a review of ketamine use by first responders, which fueled calls from advocacy groups for racial justice and police reform and raised additional concerns about the drug’s use during arrests.

An Associated Press analysis of policies and cases where ketamine was used during police encounters uncovered a lack of police training, conflicting medical standards and nonexistent protocols that resulted in hospitalizations and deaths.

At Monday's City Council meeting, a majority of members also voted to prohibit police from executing so-called no-knock search warrants and to require officers to announce themselves before entering homes or businesses when executing a warrant, the Sentinel reported.

Council member Angela Lawson said her proposal was inspired by the police slaying of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Taylor was fatally shot March 13 in her home by police executing a no-knock narcotics search warrant as part of a police operation targeting Taylor’s former boyfriend.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politic...y-bans-ketamine-use-amid-elijah-mcclain-probe

 

[Knicksman20]

McClain Attorney: Aurora PD Reform Plan Echoes Broken Promises

The Aurora Police Department this week unveiled "A New Way," a five-point plan intended to restore trust following a series of controversial incidents often involving alleged excessive force by the APD against people of color. But attorney Mari Newman of Denver-based Killmer, Lane & Newman LLP, who represents the family of Elijah McClain, who died after a violent encounter with Aurora cops in August 2019, isn't persuaded that it will lead to substantial change — or much change at all.

"It's a nice PR campaign," Newman acknowledges. "But actions speak louder than words — and Aurora's words aren't consistent with its actions. What we see is case after case after case after case where Aurora continues to deny accountability for its obvious racist and brutal misconduct."

Even as the police department is publicly pledging to clean up its act, she points out, the City of Aurora continues to argue in court that officers did nothing wrong in the McClain case, as seen in a document filed a week before the unveiling of "A New Way." Moreover, one of that plan's central tenets — diversifying department personnel — was part of a 2007 settlement in the fatal shooting of another unarmed Black man four years earlier. "It's been over a dozen years since they either broke their promise, or it's made no difference because the culture of the department is so fundamentally racist," Newman points out.
Newman's concerns don't end with the police department. She recently added Mayor Mike Coffman as a defendant in a lawsuit related to the APD's actions during a violin vigil honoring McClain. In a letter to Aurora's city attorney, Newman explained that Coffman is accused of threatening to displace two of the suit's plaintiffs from a community task force unless they remove their names from the suit.

Newman isn't entirely dismissive of the department's efforts to change. She's particularly heartened by a policy ending no-knock raids, calling it "an outstanding first step that is likely to save lives." Likewise, she praises the department for firing Officer Levi Huffine over his startling behavior toward a woman named Shataeah Kelly, which was captured on video. "This officer drove for about twenty minutes with Shataeah Kelly upside down on her head in the back seat of his car, begging for him to stop because she was afraid she was going to suffocate to death," notes Newman. She represents Kelly, too, and future litigation over the issue is likely.

But Newman sees a basic disconnect between Aurora's public posture and its assertion in a scheduling document related to the McClain lawsuit. In it, "they say they didn't use excessive force against Elijah," she points out. "They say they didn't deny him equal protection of the law that then caused his death, and they give a supposedly factual recitation of why they think everything they did was justified. They deny all the allegations in the complaint, they claim the defendants were justified in stopping Elijah and that they were justified in using a carotid hold on him, and they claim they're entitled to qualified immunity, which is basically a legal get-out-of-jail-free card. So on the one hand, they say they're committed to a new way of operating and a new level of accountability, but they won't take accountability for the wrongs they've already committed."

One such wrong was the 2003 killing of Jamaal Bonner. Here's how the ACLU of Colorado describes that incident:

"Aurora police officers shot and killed Jamaal Bonner during a prostitution sting. When an Aurora SWAT team burst into his hotel room and Mr. Bonner didn't take his hand out of his pocket quickly enough, an Aurora officer tased him. While Mr. Bonner lay on the floor unarmed, an officer shot him three times in the back, killing him." The ACLU added that "none of the officers involved in this unconstitutional use of excessive force was ever disciplined," but Aurora "paid $610,000 to settle the family's legal claims."

In that 2007 settlement, Aurora also agreed to take the following steps toward department diversification:

A. Continue to engage in recruitment activities at colleges, including city campuses and two year colleges, and to encourage law enforcement careers through the use of the APD Explorer program and other contacts with high schools;

B. Continue recruitment activities through publication in periodicals targeted at communities of color;

C. Discuss with the Police Chief the creation/reinstitution of voluntary peer support groups for minority and female recruits and officers;

D. Continue to encourage minority and female officers to participate in recruitment activities;

E. Revise all recruitment materials to accurately reflect the civil service educational requirements for entry-level applicants;

F. Continue to distribute recruitment materials reflective of the diversity of the citizenry of Aurora;

G. Continue to emphasize the lateral transfer program with departments with higher concentrations of officers of color; and

H. Continue to work with community-based groups and organizations in communities of color to support APD recruitment activities.

 

[Knicksman20]

In the introduction for "A New Way," Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson states: "We are committed to not only a more diverse police department that is reflective of the people of Aurora, but also a more racially equitable, bias-free and culturally competent agency that is responsive to the residents we serve." And the plan itself specifically goals of creating a "more diverse leadership team" and "changes to Civil Service role in hiring and discipline in pursuit of a department that better mirrors the demographics of our diverse city."

"We've seen these promises before," Newman says, referencing the Bonner settlement.

And then there's what Newman sees as retaliation against Lindsay Minter and Pastor Thomas Mayes, plaintiffs in the violin-vigil lawsuit. In "A New Way," she explains, "Aurora claims it wants an increased role for civilians and community voices. But both Pastor Mayes and Lindsay Minter are members of Aurora's community task force on the police, and the Mayor of Aurora [Coffman] called and threatened to remove them from the task force if they didn't drop out of the lawsuit."

In response, she continues, "we sent a letter to the city attorney's office saying it was First Amendment retaliation for him to issue those threats. And now we've amended our complaint in the protest lawsuit, bringing a specific claim against Mike Coffman individually for First Amendment retaliation."

As Newman sees it, the APD is "such a profoundly troubled department that I question whether reform is possible. These platitudes about a new way of operating, a new way of engagement, a new way of accountability are fine aspirations as far as they go. But the problems with the Aurora Police Department run so deep and have persisted over so many decades that it's hard to imagine that these generalized platitudes are going to truly make a difference, particularly when we've seen Aurora's failure to live up to similar promises in the past."

McClain Attorney: Aurora PD Reform Plan Echoes Broken Promises

 

[Knicksman20]

Officers put on leave over photos tied to Elijah McClain

Suburban Denver police say multiple officers are on paid leave during an investigation into photos that emerged of them near where Elijah McClain died last summer.

Multiple police officers in suburban Denver have been placed on paid leave during an investigation into photos that emerged of them near where Elijah McClain died last summer after three white officers stopped the Black man as he walked down the street and one put him into a chokehold.

The interim police chief of the city of Aurora, Vanessa Wilson, said in a statement Monday night that the suspended officers were “depicted in photographs near the site where Elijah McClain died.” She did not provide more details about what the images show or how many officers were on leave.

The two photos were taken near where police stopped the 23-year-old on Aug. 24, 2019, as they responded to a report of a suspicious person walking down the street wearing a face mask, said Officer Matthew Longshore, an Aurora police spokesman. The pictures were not taken during the fatal run-in, Longshore said.

McClain’s death generated new attention after the death of George Floyd stirred worldwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality. Floyd died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed Black man's neck for nearly eight minutes.

In McClain's case, police body-camera video shows an Aurora officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain and saying, “Stop right there. Stop. Stop. ... I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious.”

In the video, the officer turns McClain around and repeats, “Stop tensing up.” As McClain tries to escape the officer’s grip, the officer says, “Relax, or I’m going to have to change this situation.”

As other officers join to restrain McClain, he begs them to let go and says, “You guys started to arrest me, and I was stopping my music to listen.”

Aurora police have said McClain refused to stop walking and fought back when officers tried to take him into custody. The officers used a chokehold that cuts off blood to the brain - a tactic recently banned in several places following Floyd’s death.

In the video, McClain tells officers: “Let go of me. I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.”

Paramedics administered 500 milligrams of a sedative to calm him down, police have said. He was on the ground for 15 minutes as several officers and paramedics stood by. McClain, a massage therapist and self-taught violinist, suffered cardiac arrest and was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.

A forensic pathologist could not determine what exactly led to his death but said physical exertion during the confrontation likely contributed.

An officer reported the photos to the department's internal affairs division Thursday. Wilson said she learned of the investigation that day and ordered investigators to make it their top priority.

The investigation was completed Monday and the results, including the photos, will be made public after police officials give a review and Wilson makes a decision on how to respond, Longshore said. The chief's decision could be appealed by the officers under investigation, which would delay the results being released, he said.

The three officers who stopped McClain did not face any criminal charges after an investigation by the district attorney, but Democratic Gov. Jared Polis directed Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser last week to reopen the investigation and possibly prosecute them.

Police have been criticized for wearing riot gear and using pepper spray against some people at a protest Saturday over McClain's death, which included a violin vigil, but have denied allegations of using tear gas. Wilson defended her officers' response to what she described as a group of agitators at an otherwise peaceful protest.

“Who didn't do it the right way were those agitators who were arming themselves, that were putting on helmets and gas masks and throwing rocks at my officers,” Wilson told KUSA-TV.

Officers put on leave over photos tied to Elijah McClain

 

[b_b]

That five point plan for change is bullshyt if it doesn't include charging those cops for murder.

 

[Knicksman20]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/10/elijah-mcclain-cops/

Firing upheld for officers who mocked Elijah McClain’s chokehold death

Three Aurora, Colo., police officers who were fired last year over a photo mocking the chokehold death of Elijah McClain will not get their jobs back, the city’s Civil Service Commission ruled Tuesday.

The conclusion by the three-person commission upholds Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson’s decision to fire Officers Erica Marrero, Kyle Dittrich and Jason Rosenblatt last July, supporting the first concrete disciplinary action taken against an Aurora police officer in connection with McClain’s 2019 death and its aftermath.

McClain was walking home in August 2019 when he was detained by police who were responding to a 911 call reporting the 23-year-old massage therapist, who is Black, as “sketchy.” McClain was wearing headphones and a ski mask over his face because of a chronic health condition and did not immediately stop for police. Officers later tackled him and placed him in a carotid chokehold, a restraint maneuver that restricts blood flow to the brain. Responding paramedics injected him with a powerful sedative, and McClain went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital. He died several days later.

An unarmed 23-year-old black man died after police stopped him. The Colorado governor wants a new probe.

The fired officers could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a statement Tuesday, Wilson applauded the commission’s decision and said officers in Aurora’s department are expected to “serve our community with dignity, respect and a sense of humanity.”

Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly similarly welcomed the decision, saying in a statement, “I fully supported Chief Wilson’s firing of Officers Dittrich, Marrero and Rosenblatt, and am encouraged that the Civil Service Commission agreed and upheld her decision.”

Tuesday’s decision closes the disciplinary case against the three officers, who had appealed their 2020 firings over what the department described as conduct unbecoming an officer.

At the center of the conduct issue was a photo Marrero and Dittrich posed for (along with a third officer, who has since resigned) in October 2019, two months after McClain’s death. In the photo, the officers are smiling as they reenact a chokehold while standing in front of a memorial for McClain.

Dittrich texted the photo to Nathan Woodyard, one of the officers who had originally detained McClain and was on administrative leave following the incident. The commission’s report states that the fired officers later defended their actions as an effort to cheer up Woodyard, who had been in a group chat with other officers but grew withdrawn after McClain’s death.

Woodyard did not respond to the photo, but Dittrich later sent it to Rosenblatt, who also had taken part in detaining McClain. Rosenblatt responded to the picture, texting “ha ha.”

Woodyard never replied to the photo but later told Dittrich in person he found the picture inappropriate, saying, “Hey, that’s not cool dude.”

The commission’s chairman, Jim Weeks, underscored Woodyard’s comment to Dittrich as he rejected the fired officers’ claim that the photo was meant to cheer up their colleague.

“There were numerous other methods officers Marrero and Dittrich could have used or photos they could have sent to offer support for Officer Woodyard,” Weeks wrote in findings. “The commission simply does not understand how a photo depicting a chokehold at the Elijah McClain memorial could possibly be expected to help officer Woodyard.”

The photo remained out of public view for eight months until Rosenblatt mentioned it to another officer who then notified a superior, according to the Aurora Civil Service Commission’s report.

In their testimony to the commission, which was summarized in Tuesday’s reports, the fired officers did not dispute the facts of the incident. Instead they argued that firing them was a disproportionately harsh punishment compared with other incidents of misconduct within the department, where officers “made horrific statements” but retained their jobs. An attorney representing Marrero and Dittrich, whose hearing was separate from that of Rosenblatt, proposed they be reinstated and disciplined with a 10- to 160-hour suspension.

The commission swatted down those arguments, writing that Dittrich and Marrero’s case was not comparable to other incidents.

“None of the cases involved officers taking smiling photos at the site of the tragic death of an Aurora citizen,” the commissioners wrote. They noted that other cases also did not “exacerbate the chasm between minorities and police” — an issue the department is still grappling with more than year after McClain’s death.

The commission rejected a similar claim made by Rosenblatt, who had said his brief reply of “ha ha” was meant to avoid awkwardness and shut down the interaction. The commission found that although his reply was brief, it ultimately had “a massive impact on his fellow officers” once it was revealed to the public.

Attention now will shift to the multiple ongoing probes into McClain’s death, which initially received little attention outside Colorado. In 2019, prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges related to the death.

It was not until George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers months later that McClain’s case saw renewed attention and a national profile. Last summer, Gov. Jared Polis (D) opened a new probe into the case; the city of Aurora announced an independent investigation and the Justice Department said it will re-examine the case for possible civil rights violations.

Since McClain was killed, the city has banned the use of chokeholds by police and approved a temporary ban on first responders’ use of ketamine, the powerful sedative that was administered to McClain before he died.

 

[Ducktales]

Black men have been getting murdered in this country for hundreds of years, but having a son myself this story is the most chilling to my soul. I know I already said this, but Watching that video of him pleading and saying he is a good person made me cry, and I’m numb to every other death I hear about and in my personal life. Thank op for keeping the thread updated this is nothing short of genocide what they are doing

 

[Knicksman20]

Police Department Behind Elijah McClain’s Death Is Wildly Racist, State AG Finds
TO THE CORE

The disturbing death of a young Black man in Aurora, Colorado, police custody did not come out of nowhere, according to a scathing new report.

Months before George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, the death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado, sparked broad outrage at what critics painted as lethal brutality by racist cops.

On Wednesday, state attorney general Phil Weiser added new fuel to the fire, releasing a damning probe that detailed systemic racism in the department behind the young man’s brutal demise.

In August 2019, McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, was walking home in Aurora when local police tackled him and handcuffed him after 911 calls had flagged a “sketchy” person in the area. Later, McClain—who was wearing a ski mask and listening to music at the time of his run-in with police—was sedated by fire rescue personnel with a large dose of ketamine.

The young man went into cardiac arrest, and died three days later in a hospital. The cause of death was listed as “undetermined” in a coroner’s report.

A large protest movement around McClain’s death put pressure on police, and—buoyed by the national wave of rage after Floyd’s murder—helped push lawmakers to pass a sweeping police accountability bill giving the state AG new power to go after local cops.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, two Aurora Police Department officers, an ex-officer, and two paramedics were criminally charged for McClain’s death by Weiser.

Regardless of how that case plays out, Weiser’s report on Wednesday found that the department’s problems go well beyond one disturbing incident. And it suggested local officials faced a long road to getting out of the national spotlight.

Weiser’s report detailed the results of a 14-month investigation that included ride-alongs with officers, analyzing troves of police records and body-camera footage, and hearing from community members and police officers. It found that the police department has a pattern and practice of racially biased policing, using excessive force, and failing to document dubious investigative stops as required by the new police accountability measures put into place.

The report also suggests the police department should enter into a consent decree to address these issues, a tool often used by the federal government under the Obama administration to force change by rogue cops.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said in a statement Wednesday that the department would work with Weiser to “determine how to implement necessary and sustainable changes.”

“We acknowledge there are changes to be made,” Wilson said. “We will not broad-brush this agency or discount the professionalism and integrity that individual officers bring to our community every day.”

Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said in a statement that he was still “digesting” the details of the report and that the findings were “painful to hear.” But he added that the findings lined up with an independent review of the police department that the city commissioned a year go.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman echoed these words in a statement on Twitter, saying the findings were not “new.” He added that he was confident the issues raised will be “corrected.”

“Elevating policing and building confidence in law enforcement is a critical priority for the Department of Law,” AG Weiser said in a statement Wednesday announcing the results of his investigation. “Our authority to conduct pattern and practice investigations is an important tool for advancing this goal.”

He added that the investigation happened with the “full cooperation” of the city of Aurora and that the findings will help “elevate the effectiveness and trustworthiness of law enforcement.”

The full findings reveal that the police department uses force against people of color nearly 2.5 times as much as they do against white residents. According to a review of use-of-force reports, nearly half of the residents that the department used force against were Black, even though Black residents account for 15 percent of the local population.

Residents of color were also more likely to interact with and get arrested by police in the city than white residents, the report concluded. It also found that officers continued to make undocumented stops of citizens, which circumvents a new stipulation in the 2020 accountability bill that requires all stops to be documented.

The report also took aim at the Aurora Civil Service Commission and their influential role in the hiring of officers in the city. According to the report, about 1 percent of Black applicants who met qualifications were offered a job in the department, as opposed to 4 percent of white applicants. “This level of racial winnowing can be observed at every step of the process, suggesting bias in Aurora’s recruitment and hiring process,” AG Weiser said in a statement.

Civil Service Commission Chairman Jim Weeks said in a statement that he was “appreciative” of the report. He added that the commission would continue to discuss ways to improve hiring and disciplinary processes but that they needed time to review the findings before commenting further.

In a press conference Wednesday, Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod, who helped draft the 2020 accountability bill that led to the probe, said Wednesday’s report “affirmed” that her bill was “doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing.”

Herod also said the findings in the report were not anything new, particularly for Black residents in Aurora. Herod said that it has been clear that the department has “operated in a way that is racist, and that is particularly racist against Black people and prevents harm to our communities.”

“Hopefully this will prove to some people and vindicate for others that what they believe happened to them was real,” Herod said of Black residents who have dealt with police misconduct for years. “That what they believe they are facing when it comes to racial discrimination in their community is real.”

Police Department Behind Elijah McClain’s Death Is Wildly Racist, State AG Finds

 

[ORDER_66]

Police Department Behind Elijah McClain’s Death Is Wildly Racist, State AG Finds
TO THE CORE

The disturbing death of a young Black man in Aurora, Colorado, police custody did not come out of nowhere, according to a scathing new report.

Months before George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, the death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado, sparked broad outrage at what critics painted as lethal brutality by racist cops.

On Wednesday, state attorney general Phil Weiser added new fuel to the fire, releasing a damning probe that detailed systemic racism in the department behind the young man’s brutal demise.

In August 2019, McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, was walking home in Aurora when local police tackled him and handcuffed him after 911 calls had flagged a “sketchy” person in the area. Later, McClain—who was wearing a ski mask and listening to music at the time of his run-in with police—was sedated by fire rescue personnel with a large dose of ketamine.

The young man went into cardiac arrest, and died three days later in a hospital. The cause of death was listed as “undetermined” in a coroner’s report.

A large protest movement around McClain’s death put pressure on police, and—buoyed by the national wave of rage after Floyd’s murder—helped push lawmakers to pass a sweeping police accountability bill giving the state AG new power to go after local cops.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, two Aurora Police Department officers, an ex-officer, and two paramedics were criminally charged for McClain’s death by Weiser.

Regardless of how that case plays out, Weiser’s report on Wednesday found that the department’s problems go well beyond one disturbing incident. And it suggested local officials faced a long road to getting out of the national spotlight.

Weiser’s report detailed the results of a 14-month investigation that included ride-alongs with officers, analyzing troves of police records and body-camera footage, and hearing from community members and police officers. It found that the police department has a pattern and practice of racially biased policing, using excessive force, and failing to document dubious investigative stops as required by the new police accountability measures put into place.

The report also suggests the police department should enter into a consent decree to address these issues, a tool often used by the federal government under the Obama administration to force change by rogue cops.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said in a statement Wednesday that the department would work with Weiser to “determine how to implement necessary and sustainable changes.”

“We acknowledge there are changes to be made,” Wilson said. “We will not broad-brush this agency or discount the professionalism and integrity that individual officers bring to our community every day.”

Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said in a statement that he was still “digesting” the details of the report and that the findings were “painful to hear.” But he added that the findings lined up with an independent review of the police department that the city commissioned a year go.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman echoed these words in a statement on Twitter, saying the findings were not “new.” He added that he was confident the issues raised will be “corrected.”

“Elevating policing and building confidence in law enforcement is a critical priority for the Department of Law,” AG Weiser said in a statement Wednesday announcing the results of his investigation. “Our authority to conduct pattern and practice investigations is an important tool for advancing this goal.”

He added that the investigation happened with the “full cooperation” of the city of Aurora and that the findings will help “elevate the effectiveness and trustworthiness of law enforcement.”

The full findings reveal that the police department uses force against people of color nearly 2.5 times as much as they do against white residents. According to a review of use-of-force reports, nearly half of the residents that the department used force against were Black, even though Black residents account for 15 percent of the local population.

Residents of color were also more likely to interact with and get arrested by police in the city than white residents, the report concluded. It also found that officers continued to make undocumented stops of citizens, which circumvents a new stipulation in the 2020 accountability bill that requires all stops to be documented.

The report also took aim at the Aurora Civil Service Commission and their influential role in the hiring of officers in the city. According to the report, about 1 percent of Black applicants who met qualifications were offered a job in the department, as opposed to 4 percent of white applicants. “This level of racial winnowing can be observed at every step of the process, suggesting bias in Aurora’s recruitment and hiring process,” AG Weiser said in a statement.

Civil Service Commission Chairman Jim Weeks said in a statement that he was “appreciative” of the report. He added that the commission would continue to discuss ways to improve hiring and disciplinary processes but that they needed time to review the findings before commenting further.

In a press conference Wednesday, Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod, who helped draft the 2020 accountability bill that led to the probe, said Wednesday’s report “affirmed” that her bill was “doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing.”

Herod also said the findings in the report were not anything new, particularly for Black residents in Aurora. Herod said that it has been clear that the department has “operated in a way that is racist, and that is particularly racist against Black people and prevents harm to our communities.”

“Hopefully this will prove to some people and vindicate for others that what they believe happened to them was real,” Herod said of Black residents who have dealt with police misconduct for years. “That what they believe they are facing when it comes to racial discrimination in their community is real.”

Police Department Behind Elijah McClain’s Death Is Wildly Racist, State AG Finds

Now what is the DOJ / AG gonna do about it???

 

[Knicksman20]

5 Arrested In Elijah McClain Death Due In Court Friday

 

[Neo. The Only. The One.]

5 Arrested In Elijah McClain Death Due In Court Friday

Finally.

 

[OfTheCross]

5 Arrested In Elijah McClain Death Due In Court Friday

They need to do real time

 

[Neo. The Only. The One.]

They need to do real time

They should all be given life. I want nothing less than that.

It's insane that they kill so many of us that it's so hard to keep track of at times.

 

[b_b]

This case still makes me insanely sad and angry. What they did to that kid will never sit right with my soul. They all gotta get the chair or the needle, not a god damn thing less.