DENVER — As protests continue across the U. S. against excessive police force against people of color, Elijah McClain’s name has become another rallying cry on…
DENVER —
As protests continue across the U. S. against excessive police force against people of color, Elijah McClain’s name has become another rallying cry on social media.
McClain, a 23-year-old Black man in the Denver suburb of Aurora, died in August after police officers confronted him as he was walking to a store. Officers put him in a chokehold and injected him with a sedative.
Investigations by Aurora police and a district attorney produced no charges. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, citing appeals from the public, appointed a special prosecutor on Thursday to examine the case.
Here’s what we know:
WHO IS ELIJAH McCLAIN?
McClain was a massage therapist who planned to go to college, his younger sister, Samara McClain, told The Denver Post. McClain’s friends and family said he was as “a spiritual seeker, pacifist, oddball, vegetarian, athlete, and peacemaker who was exceedingly gentle,” according to the Colorado Sentinel.
Samara McClain said her brother often wore masks when he was outside because he had a blood condition that caused him to become cold easily. She also said that her brother was walking to a corner store to get tea for a cousin when someone contacted police to report a suspicious person wearing a ski mask on a warm evening and waving his arms as he walked down a street on Aug.
