Colorado police and paramedics who stopped Elijah McClain made a series of pivotal mistakes that ended in the young man’s 2019 death, the findings of an independent probe revealed Monday.
Aurora police had no justification for stopping McClain or using force to detain McClain, replying paramedics anaesthetized him with ketamine “ without anything more than a brief visual observation ” of the 23-year-old black man, according to a panel of medical and legal experts appointed by the city council, which ordered the report.
McClain was detained in Aurora on August 24, 2019 by officers who answered a call reporting a suspicious person in the area.
McClain’s first stop was questionable, as “none of the agents articulated a crime that they thought Mr. McClain was about to commit, or was about to commit,” the report said.
“This decision affected the rest of the meeting,” the findings said.
A chokehold was used during the confrontation and he was injected with ketamine, which authorities believed was in a state of agitated delirium and a threat to agents, authorities said.
“Based on the data available to the panel, we were unable to find sufficient evidence that Mr. McClain was armed and dangerous to warrant a search,” the report said. “The panel also notes that an officer’s statement that Aurora officers are trained to ‘take action before it escalates’ does not meet the constitutional requirement of reasonable suspicion of conduct (a stop or a search).”
The 5-foot-7,140-pound McClain was given ketamine that would have been suitable for a 190-pound man, according to the panel’s findings.
Aurora Fire appears to have accepted the officers’ impression that Mr. McClain had induced delirium, without corroborating that impression through meaningful observations or diagnostic investigations by Mr. McClain, “the report said.
“In addition, EMS administered a dose of ketamine based on a very inaccurate and inflated estimate of Mr. McClain’s size. Higher doses may carry a higher risk of sedation complications, which this team was clearly not prepared for.”
McClain passed out and was brought to life on August 30.
The young man’s death gained national attention over the summer in light of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, when millions of Americans took to the streets to protest police brutality and systemic racism.
Monday’s report, however, stopped blaming “implicit bias” for McClain’s death.
“In reviewing this single incident, the panel has insufficient information to determine what role, if any, bias played in the McClain meeting of Aurora police and ambulance personnel,” said city experts.
“However, research suggests that factors such as increased threat perception, perception of extraordinary strength, perception of higher pain tolerance, and misperception of age and size may be indicative of bias.”
Over the summer, however, Colorado became the first state to end so-called “qualified immunity,” a legal principle that generally prevents police officers and other government employees from being held personally responsible in civil courts.
Earlier firefighters and emergency medical services in Aurora have said that a preliminary investigation found that the actions of medics against the nighttime police who held McClain were “consistent and in line with our established protocols.”
A spokesman for the Aurora police declined to comment on Monday, while a fire department representative was not immediately available.
Trade union representatives for police and fire brigade employees were also not immediately available for comment.
Aurora City Council will meet at 5:00 p.m. MST to discuss the findings. Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said city officials were still processing the report Monday morning.
This is a story in development, refresh here for updates.
