Colorado police and paramedics who stopped Elijah McClain made a series of major mistakes that ended in the death of the young man in 2019, findings from an independent investigation revealed Monday.
Aurora police had no justification for detaining or forcibly detaining McClain, and responding paramedics anesthetized him with ketamine “without performing more than a brief visual observation” of the 23-year-old Swartman , according to a panel of medical and legal experts appointed by the city council, which commissioned the report.
McClain was stopped on August 24, 2019 in Aurora by officers answering a call in which they reported a suspicious person in the area.
McClain’s initial stop was questionable, as’ none of the officers articulated a crime that according to them Mr. “McClain committed, committed or was about to commit,” the report said.
“This decision had consequences for the rest of the meeting,” according to findings.
A throttle was used during the confrontation and he was injected with ketamine, while authorities believe he is in an excited condition and that officers are threatened, authorities said.
“Based on the record available to the panel, we were unable to identify sufficient evidence that Mr. McClain was armed and dangerous to justify a pat-down search,” the report said. “The panel also notes that the statement of one officer that Aurora officers were trained to ‘take action before it escalates’ does not meet the constitutional requirement of reasonable presumption to act.’
According to the panel’s findings, McClain gave the 5-foot-140-kilogram pound, which ketamine would be given to a man weighing 190 pounds.
‘It seems that Aurora Fire has accepted the impression of the officers that Mr. McClain aroused delirium without confirming the impression through meaningful observations or a diagnostic examination of Mr. McClain, ” reads the report.
“In addition, EMS administered a dose of ketamine based on a very inaccurate and inflated estimate of the size of Mr. McClain. Higher doses may pose a higher risk of sedation complications, for which this team was clearly not prepared.”
McClain lost consciousness and was removed from life support on August 30.
The death of the young man gained national interest during the summer in the wake of the assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis, while millions of Americans took to the streets to protest police brutality and systemic racism.
Monday’s report, however, stopped blaming the “implicit bias” for McClain’s death.
“Looking at the single incident, the panel has insufficient information to determine what role, if any, played a prejudice in the meeting with McClain of the Aurora police officers and the EMS,” according to city experts.
“However, research indicates that factors such as increased threat of perception, perception of extraordinary strength, perception of higher pain tolerance and misperceptions of age and size may be an indication of prejudice.”
Over the course of the summer, however, Colorado became the first state to end so-called ‘qualified immunity’, a legal principle that protects police officers and other government employees in general from being held personally liable in civil court.
Earlier, fire and emergency services officials in Aurora said a preliminary investigation found that medics’ actions on the night that police detained McClain “were in line with our established protocols.”
A spokeswoman for the Aurora Police Department declined to comment Monday, while a fire department representative could not be reached immediately.
Union representatives for police and fire department employees were also not immediately available for comment.
Aurora City Council will meet at 5:00 p.m. MST to discuss the findings. Jim Twombly, manager of Aurora City, said city officials were still digesting the report Monday morning.
This is an evolving story, refresh yourself here for updates.
