Elijah McClain Family Files Police Brutality Lawsuit

The family of Elijah McClain has filed a lawsuit against the city of Aurora, Colorado and various city officials, challenging the police brutality which reportedly killed McClain.

The parents of Elijah McClain argue that their son was unlawfully killed after he was put into a chokehold twice by police and later sedated by paramedics. As a result of these incidents, McClain died of complications from cardiac arrest six days after his confrontation with police.

“We have filed this civil rights lawsuit to demand justice for Elijah McClain, to hold accountable the Aurora officials, police officers, and paramedics responsible for his murder, and to force the City of Aurora to change it longstanding pattern of brutal and racist policing,” the Elijah McClain family lawyer said in a statement.

Elijah McClain was a 23-year-old Black man living in Aurora and working as a massage therapist. Since his death, McClain’s kindness and gentle nature have been highlighted – including one example of him playing violin for stray cats in the animal shelter.

Last year, while McClain was walking home from the convenience store, police officers allegedly took him into custody after responding to a call about a “sketchy” man. He was reportedly pinned to the ground for 18 minutes – 15 of which he was handcuffed – where he was assaulted.

While being arrested, McClain allegedly resisted the officer restraining him – to which the officer reportedly responded with more violence. Elijah was put into two consecutive carotid holds, restricting blood to his brain and causing him to lose consciousness.

Despite being the victim of police brutality, Elijah McClain reportedly stayed true to his peaceful nature while pleading to the officers to spare him. He told the officers that he couldn’t breathe, that he had no weapon, and that he was peaceful – saying “I don’t even kill flies. I don’t eat meat…. I am [ ] a vegetarian. I don’t judge people for anything.”

Later, after paramedics arrived, Elijah McClain was reportedly dosed with a large amount of ketamine – a dose which his family argues was far too large for his body weight. On the way to the hospital, McClain’s heart reportedly gave out and he suffered from a heart attack. Three days later, he was declared brain dead.

“Aurora’s brutality denied Elijah almost his entire adult life, a life of bright promise both for him and for the many people with whom he would have shared his light and compassion,” the Elijah McClain police brutality lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit from McClain’s family, there was no need for police officers and first responders to inflict police brutality upon the young man.

The family notes that McClain didn’t do anything to warrant being arrested. In fact, the lawsuit connects Elijah McClain’s attack to “decades” of police brutality in Aurora in which “Aurora police have persistently brutalized people of color, and especially Black people, at a rate significantly greater than their proportion in the Aurora community.”

The Elijah McClain police brutality lawsuit also challenges the paramedics’ use of ketamine. Ketamine is a powerful sedative used in medical situations, but McClain allegedly showed no signs that he needed the drug. To make matters worse, the unnecessary drug was reportedly administered at a dose far too high for McClain’s body.

Unfortunately, the officers behind McClain’s attack were not held accountable for their actions, the lawsuit notes. Although they were temporarily put on administrative leave, the officers were later reinstated after the local prosecutors decided not to press charges.

After public outcry in June, Colorado’s governor Jared Polis announced that he would reexamine the case. The city of Aurora, state attorney general’s office, and the federal government are reportedly launching separate investigations into the death of Elijah McClain. Although these investigations may hold the involved parties accountable for criminal charges, McClain’s family seeks to hold the officers and others accountable in a civil case.

In other legal news, the same law firm representing the McClain family in this case previously filed another class action lawsuit against the city of Aurora. The earlier suit alleged that city police officers unlawfully victimized attendees of an Elijah McClain violin vigil in an “unjustified” show of police brutality.

“Against the backdrop of the violinists’ beautiful and haunting soundtrack, these officers under APD direction bullied and indiscriminately deployed chemical agents on the men, women, and children who had gathered to peacefully remember Elijah,” the Elijah McClain police brutality class action lawsuit contends. “They terrorized an already reeling and grieving community.”

What are your thoughts on police brutality protests? Have you joined celebrations of the lives of Elijah McClain and other victims of violence? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Elijah McClain’s family and estate are represented by Mari Newman, Michael Fairhurst, and Liana Gerstle Orshan or Killmer Lane & Newman LLP.

The Elijah McClain Police Brutality Lawsuit is Estate of Elijah Javon McClain, et al. v. City of Aurora, Colorado, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02389, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

Class Action Lawsuit Says Zoom Users’ Privacy Not Protected

How Many Cases of Lyft Sexual Assault Have Been Reported?

Texas Coronavirus Contact Tracing is Illegal, Lawsuit Says

Customer Service Call Recording: Are You Being Monitored?