City probe faults police treatment in fatal arrest of Elijah McClain
DENVER — 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 23year-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.
“Forgive me ... you all are phenomenal, you are beautiful,” McClain said at one point, the report said.
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 rigour” of a police investigation “that one would expect” when assessing whether a crime was committed.
Young’s review of the case did not find sufficient evidence to press criminal charges in McClain’s death.
The district attorney didn’t consider
Colorado’s statutory requirement that officers must have “reasonable suspicion” of a previous or impending crime in order to stop someone, relying only on the fact that McClain was in a “high crime area” and that he was wearing a ski mask and a coat on a summer night, the report found.
“Neither the neighbourhood nor the ski mask by themselves or together are sufficient to create reasonable suspicion without more,” the report states.
His family said McClain wore the mask because he had a blood condition that caused him to get cold easily.
His death drew renewed attention last year amid the national reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice and prompted several investigations, including a probe into possible criminal charges by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office that remains in progress.
In the Aurora investigation, the city asked outside investigators to look into the actions of police, firefighters and paramedics in McClain’s arrest but not
to duplicate the attorney general’s criminal investigation. They were also asked to review policies and practices relevant to McClain’s arrest, like the use of force and the use of ketamine. The city banned the use of ketamine as it awaited the results of the investigation.
The investigation found there was no attempt to examine McClain before paramedics administered ketamine. The report suggested policy should be changed so paramedics prioritize patient safety rather than act as an “arm” of the police department.
It also recommended the police department review how officers are trained to decide whether they have a legal reason to stop, frisk and arrest people, and urges the city to consider overhauling how it reviews incidents. It said department investigators who questioned the three officers who stopped and arrested McClain “failed to ask basic, critical questions” needed by any prosecutor to determine if their use of force was legally justified.
In 155, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey), was martyred. Arrested at age 86, Polycarp was burned at the stake by the Romans for refusing to deny the Christian faith.
In 303, Roman Emperor Diocletian began his Great Persecution, issuing edicts calling for church buildings to be destroyed, sacred writings burned, Christians to lose civil rights, and clergy to be imprisoned and forced to sacrifice.
In 1455 (traditional date), Johannes Gutenberg published the Bible, the first book ever printed on a press with movable type.
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas. Mexican troops under Gen. Santa Anna eventually wiped out the American garrison. Among those killed was frontiersman Davy Crockett.
In 1874, lawn tennis was patented by W.C. Wingfield of England.
In 1885, in Devonshire, England, John Lee became the only man to survive hanging three times. His death sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison.
In 1893, the Stanley Cup was awarded for the first time to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association team.
In 1905, Rotary Club International was founded in Chicago.
In 1906, Ontario-born Tommy Burns became Canada's first world heavyweight boxing champion. He held the title for two years.
In 1909, John McCurdy of Baddeck, N.S., made the British Empire's first powered flight. He flew the "Silver Dart" nearly a kilometre over the frozen Baddeck Bay at an altitude of about 10 metres.
In 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Soviet Red Army.
In 1945, during the Second World War, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag twice. (The second flag-raising was captured in the iconic photo taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal).
In 1953, Britain granted amnesty to more than 14,000 Second World War military deserters.
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
In 1970, the first public presentation of the Junos, the annual awards of the Canadian recording industry, took place in Toronto.
In 1972, a Soviet rocket with lunar rock samples aboard blasted off from the Moon.
In 1979, W.A.C. Bennett, premier of British Columbia from 1952-72, died at the age of 78.
In 1982, Quebec Government House Leader
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In 1990, rookie Vancouver Tory MP Kim Campbell became Canada's first female justice minister.
In 1994, Quebec's Myriam Bedard became the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals at a single Winter Olympics. Bedard overcame a pair of mismatched skis to win the 7.5-km biathlon race in Lillehammer, Norway, by 1.1 seconds. She won the 15-km event five days before.
In 1994, a two-year-old from Rouleau, Sask., survived six hours outside in bitterly cold weather. Doctors said Karlee Kosolofskis's core body temperature when she was found was 14 degrees. She was the first person on record to survive such a low body temperature.
In 2002, Gordon Matthews, the inventor of voice mail, died at age 65 in Austin, Texas. Matthews patented it in 1982.
In 2010, Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor became the first Olympic women's ski-cross champion as the sport made its Olympic debut at the Winter Games in Vancouver.
In 2018, at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games, Kelowna’s Kelsey Serwa took gold in the women's ski-cross competition.