Elijah McClain death: Independent investigation finds police didn’t have legal basis to stop, frisk or choke 23-year-old - The Denver Post

Aurora police officers did not have a legal basis to force Elijah McClain to stop walking, to frisk him or to use a chokehold on him, an independent investigation commissioned by the city found.

The detectives failed to ask basic, critical questions of the officers involved in McClain’s death and instead “the questions frequently appeared designed to elicit specific exonerating ‘magic language’ found in court rulings,” the report states.

Aurora city officials on Monday morning released the 157-page report on the death of McClain at the hands of city police and paramedics.

“The Aurora officials who contributed to Elijah’s death must be immediately terminated,” according to the statement from the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm.

The investigators also found that Aurora paramedics failed to properly examine McClain before injecting him with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine — a dose based on a “grossly inaccurate” estimation of McClain’s weight.

Aurora government leaders commissioned the investigation on July 20 as McClain’s 2019 death drew international attention.

The Aurora City Council is scheduled to discuss the report’s findings at a special meeting at 5 p.m.

The results of the city-initiated investigation are the first to be made public out of several ongoing investigations into McClain’s death.

The Adams County coroner ruled the cause of McClain’s death to be undetermined and the district attorney for the 17th Judicial District found the three police officers who violently detained him were not criminally liable.

One of the officers involved in McClain’s death, Jason Rosenblatt, was later fired by the department’s next chief for replying “haha” to a texted photo showing other Aurora police officers re-enacting one of the chokeholds used on McClain at his memorial site.

The other two officers remained employed by the department, though in jobs that are not public-facing.

Smith is the second person commissioned by the city to investigate McClain’s death