Elijah McClain parents sue Colorado police over son's death

Federal lawsuit seeks 'to ensure that Elijah did not die in vain by sending a resounding message that racism and brutality have no place in American law enforcement'

The parents of Elijah McClain have filed a civil rights lawsuit against police and emergency medical personnel in Colorado following the death of the 23-year-old black man after he was placed in a chokehold by officers and injected with 500 milligrams of ketamine.

Nearly a year after his killing, Sheneen McClain and Lawayne Mosley seek to "hold accountable the Aurora officials, police officers, and paramedics responsible for his murder, and to force the City of Aurora to change its longstanding pattern of brutal and racist policing," they said in a statement through an attorney on Tuesday.

The massage therapist, described by his family as "gentle", was walking home from a convenience store where he had been buying iced tea when a member of the public called police to report someone looking "sketchy" in the neighbourhood. Mr McClain was wearing a ski mask, which his family said he often wore because he had anaemia. The person who called police said they did not believe any crime had been committed.

The federal lawsuit seeks "accountability for the profound loss of a beautiful soul, and to ensure that Elijah did not die in vain by sending a resounding message that racism and brutality have no place in American law enforcement".

Defendants in the suit include the City of Aurora and the three Aurora Police Department officers who stopped him on 24 August, 2019. Ten other officers, a paramedic and an official who oversees the Aurora Fire Rescue's use of ketamine are also named in the lawsuit.

Aurora officers Nathan Woodyard, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt stopped Mr McClain, violently forced him to the ground and handcuffed him before a paramedic arrived and injected him with ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to a hospital and died six days later.

The 100-page lawsuit opens with Mr McClain's last words – captured on officers' body-mounted cameras pleading for the officers to stop and repeating that he can't breathe – along with photographs of him playing violin and a description of the 18-minute "brutal" use of force by police against him.

Last month, Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson fired three officers captured smiling in selfies they took in October near a memorial for Mr McClain. One photo shows an officer smiling as another officer recreates a chokehold. The photos were sent to Mr Rosenblatt, one of the three officers who arrested Mr McClain. He texted back "haha," Chief Wilson said.

Mr Rosenblatt was fired along with Erica Marrero and Kyle Dittrich. Jaron Jones resigned.

"Aurora permits and encourages a culture of racial violence in its police department that is so rampant that a trio of on-duty, uniformed Aurora police officers returned to the scene of Elijah's killing to take pictures of themselves smiling while reenacting the chokehold performed on Elijah," according to the lawsuit. "Under mounting public pressure, the city fired these officers. Yet, the city still has not taken any steps to discipline anyone for the killing of an innocent young man."

Body-mounted camera footage of his arrest and death was not released until November, the same month that prosecutors announced that they would not bring charges against the officers involved.

His killing did not receive widespread media attention until recent mass movements against police brutality and systemic racism, galvanised by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

Police used pepper spray to break up a violin concert on 27 June, held as a memorial for Mr McClain, following a day of protests in the city.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has also signed an executive order to mandate the state's attorney general to investigate Mr McClain's case and "criminally prosecute any individuals whose actions caused" his death, he said in a statement.

"I was moved by speaking with Elijah's mother and her description of her son as a responsible and curious child ... who could inspire the darkest soul," the governor said in a statement. "Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe it to his family to take this step and elevate the pursuit of justice in his name to a statewide concern."