Elijah McClain: Police and paramedics face charges over 2019 chokehold death of Black man in Colorado

Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man who died days after he was subdued by three policemen and injected with a powerful sedative in August 2019, poses in an undated photograph in Aurora, Colorado, U.S. . Family photo/Handout via REUTERS. (via REUTERS)

Police and paramedics will face charges over the 2019 chokehold death of young Black man Elijah McClain in Colorado.

Two officers with the Aurora Police Department and one former officer, as well as two paramedics will be charged with one count each of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, as well as other charges.

The announcement by State Attorney General Phil Weiser came two years after the death of Mr McClain, 23, which sparked months of protests in the state.

The charges were brought following an eight-month grand jury investigation into the death of Mr McClain, who like George Floyd told the officers, “I can’t breathe” as they restrained him.

“I said our investigation would be guided by a commitment to the facts, by thorough and diligent work, and we would be worthy of public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system,” said Mr Weiser on Wednesday.

“These remain the guiding principles of this matter.”

Mr McClain’s fatal encounter with Aurora Police Department officers on 24 August 2019, started after he bought an iced tea at a store in the city.

Despite it being the summer, he was wearing a ski mask over his face because of a blood condition that made him feel cold, his family has said.

Police responded after a report of a suspicious person wearing a mask and waving his arms.

Racial Injustice Elijah McClain (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

When officers confronted him, he told them that he was an introvert and asked them to “please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.”

During questioning the officers grabbed Mr McClain, with one officer claiming that he had grabbed for a holstered gun, and the police said that he was taken to the ground as he “resisted contact, a struggle ensued, and he was taken into custody.”

Officials said that the officers used a carotid control technique on Mr McClain, a chokehold designed to render him unconscious.

Paramedics were called to the scene and Mr McClain was injected with ketamine to sedate him.

Police bodycam video showed that he was thrashing on the ground, telling officers “I can’t breathe” and vomiting.

The video even captures Mr McClain apologising to the officers for vomiting.

Prosecutors say that around seven minutes after receiving the injection, Mr McClain was found to have no pulse and had gone into cardiac arrest.

The paramedics were able to revive Mr McClain but doctors later declared him brain dead and he was taken off life support and died less than a week later.

Colroado’s governor Jared Polis, brought in the state’s attorney general to investigate after the local district attorney said that no charges could be brought against the police or paramedics.

(Aurora Police Department)

Following the incident, “multiple” officers from the department were fired after taking part in a disrespectful “selfie” photo session near a memorial for Mr McClain.

The Aurora Police Department identified the officers as Jason Rosenblatt, Erica Marrero and Kyle Dittrich.

A fourth officer, Jaron Jones, also resigned following the controversy.