Mcclain’s mother invited to D.C.
President to sign executive order on reforming policing on anniversary of George Floyd murder
President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order aimed at reforming policing on Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police — and Elijah McClain’s mother will be at the White House to witness the moment.
Sheneen Mcclain, the mother of the 23-year-old who died after being violently arrested by Aurora police in 2019, was invited to the White House on Monday and traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
She will be joined by one of her attorneys, Qusair Mohamedbhai of the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm in Denver.
The presidential order that Biden is expected to sign would require federal law enforcement to review and revise policies on use of force, and it would restrict the flow of surplus military equipment to local police. In addition, the order would encourage limitations on chokeholds and noknock warrants by attaching strings to federal funding.
The people who described the order spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of any public announcement.
Relatives of Floyd, whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide protests, also are expected to attend. During the 2020 police protests, people chanted Floyd’s and Elijah Mcclain’s names and carried banners with their names as they decried the men’s deaths at the hands of police.
Mcclain was stopped by Aurora police officers in August 2019 while on his way home from buying tea at a convenience store after someone called to report a man acting strange.
Mcclain asked why he was being stopped and police quickly put their hands on him, taking the 23-year-old to the ground and putting him in a carotid control hold as he begged them to stop. Paramedics injected Mcclain with ketamine, a heavy sedative. He blacked out and went into cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital, where he died a few days later.
His last words, “My name’s Elijah Mcclain,” became a rallying cry during the protests.
Two years after Mcclain’s death, a state grand jury indicted three Aurora police officers and two paramedics on a combined 32 counts, including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Sheneen Mcclain has been protective of her son’s name and image and often declines invitations to participate in events in his honor. This time, though, she agreed to travel to Washington after being invited by the White House,
said Siddartha Rathod, one of her attorneys.
The 2020 protests were the largest series of demonstrations in American history, occurring in the midst of coronavirus lockdowns and President Donald Trump’s divisive reelection campaign.
However, transforming the initial outcry into political change has proven difficult.
When four officers were convicted last year for killing Floyd, Biden urged Congress to pass legislation to reform police by the anniversary of his death.
The guilty verdict was “not enough,” he said, and “we can’t stop here.”
However, no legislation was passed, and bipartisan talks dragged on, and later broke down.
The White House eventually decided to move forward with executive actions rather than wait for Congress.
In September, the Justice Department curtailed federal agents’ use of no-knock warrants — which allow law enforcement agents to enter a home without announcing their presence — and updated its policy to prohibit agents from using chokeholds in most circumstances.
But extending such rules to local police is more challenging, and White House officials have spent months in negotiations with civil rights groups and police organizations.
The resulting set of policies is less extensive than originally sought, not to mention delayed by a year.
“We know full well that an executive order cannot address America’s policing crisis the same way Congress has the ability to, but we’ve got to do everything we can,” said a statement from NAACP President Derrick Johnson.