Colorado AG opens grand jury investigation into Elijah McClain's 2019 death when police put him in a chokehold as he walked home from store and paramedics injected him with ketamine
The Colorado attorney general on Friday opened a grand jury investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed black man who was stopped by the police as he walked down the street, placed in a chokehold and injected with the powerful sedative ketamine
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser convened the grand jury probe nearly a year-and-a-half after McClain died.
'The grand jury is an investigative tool that has the power to compel testimony from witnesses and require production of documents and other relevant information that would otherwise be unavailable,' Weiser said in a statement Friday.
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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Friday convened a grand jury investigation into the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain while in police custody
Police were called for a suspicious person wearing a ski mask and waving his arms in Aurora
McClain died following a confrontation with the police in the suburban Denver area. He was placed in a neck hold as he complained he could not breathe
Weiser, a Democrat, promised the investigation will be 'thorough, guided by the facts and law, and worthy of the public's trust,' and said he will refrain from further comment 'to maintain the impartiality and integrity of the process.'
On August 24, 2019, Aurora police responded to a call of a suspicious person, later identified as McClain, wearing a ski mask and waving his arms as he walked down a street.
They say McClain, who was not suspected of committing any crime, refused to stop walking on his way home from a convenience store and fought back when officers confronted him and tried to take him into custody.
To subdue McClain, officers used a carotid hold that cuts off blood to the brain, which has been banned in several places since George Floyd´s death in Minneapolis stirred nationwide protests.
McClain, who was black, repeatedly told the white officers that he could not breathe, according to audio recordings released by police.
Paramedics arrived soon after and administered 500 milligrams of ketamine to calm down McClain down. McClain suffered cardiac arrest, and was declared brain dead and taken off life support just days later.
The coroner for Adams stated that McClain's death was ultimately due to 'undetermined causes.'
The officers involved in the incident (one of the pictured above, left and right), have not been criminal charged and have not been fired
Weiser is still investigating the officers' actions amid several reviews into the case and the Aurora Police Department by the city and federal government.
District Attorney Dana Young previously said he would not file criminal charges against three officers and paramedics involved in the incident because of insufficient evidence.
'I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the action of those officers caused the death of Elijah McClain,' said Young during an interview with CNN in late June. 'In my business, I can't take that case to court if we don't know those answers. It's as simple as that.
McClain, a self-taught violinist, was taken off life support just days after his confrontation with police
'I wish they sat in their car and watched him walk home. Elijah McClain would be alive right now.'
Officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt were moved to desk duty on June 13 while officer Randy Roedema was also re-assigned on June 20,
Governor Jared Polis in June appointed Weiser as a special prosecutor to review the case.
McClain's death sparked Black Lives Matter protests, during some of which demonstrators played played the violin in honor of the 23-year-old man, who was a self-taught violinist.