According to an investigation that began after the death of Elijah McClain, a young black man who was arrested by police in 2019, the Aurora, Colorado police department was involved in a racially biased and overly forceful police pattern. and a potent anesthetic is injected into it.
The Colorado Department of Law investigation found that city police officers, about 380,000 Denver residents, more often arrested and used force against people of color than white people, depending on the percentage of the population. .
For example, from January 2018 to February 2021, nearly half of the people against whom Aurora police used force were black, even though blacks only represent about 15% of the city’s residents, according to research.
The investigation also concluded that Aurora Fire Rescue had a pattern of illegal administration of ketamine, the anesthetic used on Mr. McClain, often in higher doses than recommended, before the department suspended its use on September 14, 2020.
The findings of the civil investigation were disclosed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser two weeks after he announced that a grand jury had charged three Aurora police officers and two paramedics charged with homicide over the death of Mr. McClain, of 23 years.
The report recommended that the Police Department sign a consent decree that would require changes in policies, training, document registration and recruitment. If the department does not agree to enter into such an agreement, the state could ask for a court order to force it to make changes, Weiser said.
“For us, the guiding light is how we believe trust in law enforcement and government, so that people are treated legally and equitably,” Democrat Weiser said Wednesday at a rally. press. “This will not happen overnight.”
Vanessa Wilson, Aurora’s police chief, said the department would work with the attorney general “to determine how to implement the necessary and sustainable changes” and that “a final consent decree will serve as one more resource in our path forward “.
Chief Wilson said that over the past 21 months, Aurora had improved her police training, de-escalation, and community outreach.
“Today is incredibly difficult not only for the Aurora community, but for this agency,” he said in a statement. “We recognize that there are changes that need to be made.”
Jim Twombly, the city’s manager, said local leaders were committed to a “new way” of doing policing.
“I’m still digesting the details of the attorney general’s report, and it’s painful to know,” Twombly said in a statement. “It would be premature for me to comment on any specific findings at this time.”
However, he said, the findings appeared to align with the findings and recommendations of independent reviews the city commissioned more than a year ago, ahead of the attorney general’s investigation.
Fire chief Fernando Gray said in a statement that although the department had stopped using ketamine more than a year ago, “and we have no plans to reintroduce this drug into our system, we find value in report “.
Weiser announced the investigation in August 2020 amid national protests against police violence that followed the assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis. McClain’s death had also sparked demonstrations and calls for justice.
McClain, who was described by friends and family as a kind animal-loving person, had been walking home from a convenience store on August 24, 2019, when someone called 911 to report a person. suspicious.
Officers grabbed Mr. McClain’s arms, pushed him against a wall, and threw him to the ground. They used a “carotid retention” to subdue Mr. McClain, a potentially dangerous neck restriction that restricts blood to the brain.
“I’m an introvert and I’m different,” McClain told police, according to audio recordings of the stop. “I am different. That’s all. That’s all he did. I’m so sorry.”
Mr. McClain was already handcuffed when paramedics arrived, and the prosecution claimed they did not speak to Mr. McClain, check his vital signs, or control him properly after injecting him with ketamine.
McClain was taken to an unconscious hospital and never recovered. He was removed from life and died on August 30, 2019.
An Adams County forensic autopsy report said the cause of death was “undetermined” and could have been the result of natural causes, carotid-related homicide or an accident.
In the Colorado Department of Law’s civil investigation, investigators spent more than 220 hours on “walks” with police officers and firefighters and reviewed thousands of reports on the use of force, Weiser said.
Aurora police and firefighters “fully cooperated” with the investigation, he said.
The report concluded that police had a pattern of violating state and federal laws, Weiser said.
Investigators saw officers using force to bring people to the ground without giving them time to respond to orders or after telling people to “stop resisting,” even when they didn’t seem to resist, said Weiser.
The investigators also saw that officers “immediately escalated” encounters with people who were in mental difficulties but posed no danger to themselves or others, he said.
“These actions are unacceptable,” Weiser said. “They hurt people that law enforcement is tasked with protecting. And they destroy the trust of the community.”