Police fired over photos mocking chokehold victim
WASHINGTON: Three Aurora, Colorado, police officers have been fired over photos that show two of them grinning and mocking the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist who was arrested and placed in a chokehold last August. McClain died several days later.
Vanessa Wilson, the interim chief of the Aurora Police Department, said she fired the officers on Friday morning for conduct unbecoming.
“While the allegations of this internal affairs case are not criminal, it is a crime against humanity and decency,” Ms Wilson said at a Friday afternoon news conference. “To even think about doing such a thing is beyond comprehension and it’s reprehensible. It shows a lack of morals, values and integrity, and a judgment that I can no longer trust to allow them to wear this badge.”
Ms Wilson shook her head as she revealed a photo of officers Erica Marrero, Kyle Dittrich and Jaron Jones grinning in selfies they took last October near a memorial set up in McClain’s memory. Another photo showed Mr Dittrich smiling widely as Mr Jones wraps his arm around his neck. Ms Marrero is grinning in the background.
The photos were then sent to Officer
Jason Rosenblatt, one of the three officers who arrested McClain last summer.
He texted back “haha”, according to Ms Wilson. Mr Rosenblatt, who has been with the department for three years, was fired on Friday along with Ms Marrero and Mr Dittrich. Mr Jones had resigned on Tuesday.
“I am disgusted to my core,” said Ms Wilson, who apologised several times to McClain’s family during the news conference. She also apologised to police officers nationwide whose reputations she said were unfairly besmirched by the actions of the officers in her department.
On Aug 24, 2019, McClain was walking home from a convenience store when someone called 911, saying he “looked sketchy” and was wearing a ski mask and waving his arms.
Police arrived and, though McClain had not been accused of a crime, they started to restrain him.
In the blurry body camera footage of the arrest, McClain can be heard telling the officers he is an introvert and wants them to leave him alone.
One of the officers is heard saying McClain reached for another officer’s weapon, but that cannot be seen in the footage.