Nearly a year after McClain’s death, Colorado’s governor has reopened the case.
The circumstances of Elijah McClain’s death are as horrifying as any of the killings now infamous in the age of Black Lives Matter.Last year, McClain lost his life less than a week after encountering police on a walk home in Aurora, Colorado. McClain, who was anemic, regularly wore a ski mask because he quickly grew cold. Last August, a resident spotted him wearing his mask while returning home from the store, called the police, and reported him as “sketchy.”
According to video from body camera footage and news reports, when officers arrived, they immediately marched up to McClain and accosted him. McClain grew tense as officers grabbed and restrained him. During the altercation, officers placed McClain in a chokehold, threatened to have him bitten by their police dog, and deliberately obstructed the view of their body cameras, all while McClain pleaded for help, begged for forgiveness, and explained he meant no one any harm.
McClain threw up several times during the arrest and was handcuffed behind his back. When the paramedics arrived, they injected him with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine. McClain slipped into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. Three days later, he was declared brain-dead and taken off life support.
Despite his tragic death and having committed no crime, the initial investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by officers. However, in the weeks following this year’s national uprising against police brutality, new attention was brought to McClain’s story, breathing life back into the case.
On June 25, Colorado Governor Jared Polis ordered prosecutors to reopen the investigation into McClain’s death.
