City probe faults overall police treatment of Elijah McClain

The results of an investigation into the fatal arrest of Elijah McClain in suburban Denver released Monday criticizes how police handled the entire incident, faulting officers for their quick, aggressive treatment of the 23-year-old Black man and the department for having a weak accountability system that failed to press for the truth about what happened.

The investigation commissioned by the city of Aurora found “two contrasting stories” of what happened to McClain in August 2019 after someone reported him as suspicious. One, based on officers’ statements to investigators, where police describe a violent, relentless struggle. And another based on body camera footage in which McClain can be heard crying out in pain, apologizing, explaining himself, and pleading with the officers as they restrained him, applied “pain compliance” techniques, and sat or kneeled on him.

Police also put McClain in a neckhold that stops the flood of blood to the brain, rendering him temporarily unconscious, and paramedics injected him with 500 milligrams of ketamine as a sedative. He suffered cardiac arrest and later was taken off life support.

The report also suggests that District Attorney Dave Young’s review of the case failed to assess the officer’s conduct and “did not reflect the rigor” of a police investigation “that one would expect” when assessing whether a crime was committed.