The case of Elijah McClain will be reinvestigated.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that the state attorney general will reopen the investigation that led to McClain’s death.
Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement, “Elijah McClain should be alive today. His life mattered and his death was tragic. The pain, frustration, and anger that his family and many Coloradans are feeling from his death is understandable and justified,” he continued. “Whenever someone dies after an encounter with law enforcement, the community deserves a thorough investigation. Our investigation will be thorough, guided by the facts, and worthy of public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system.”
The bodycam footage recently surfaced on social media that shows McClain, a 23-year-old Black Man, walking home from the store in Aurora, Colorado, when police officers responded to a call of a suspicious man wearing a ski mask was seen in the neighborhood.
The officers who detained him by placing him in a chokehold and the paramedics arrived on the scene and gave him a large amount of ketamine to sedate him.
In the video, you can hear McClain identified who he was, where he lived, what he was doing outside, and that he was a few steps away from his house. It also shows the police officers wrestling him to the ground, and clips of him vomiting and gasping for air saying “I Can’t Breathe”.
Watch the video below. Warning it is graphic.
McClain died three days later after being declared brain dead. The autopsy report found his cause of death to be inconclusive.