A Colorado civil rights investigation into the death of Elijah McClain found the Aurora Police Department exhibited a pattern of “racially biased” policing.
Attorney General Phil Weiser, who opened the first-of-its-kind investigation in August 2020 under a sweeping police accountability law passed after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, announced its conclusion on Wednesday.
“These actions are unacceptable. They hurt the people that law enforcement is entrusted” to serve, Weiser said of the Aurora Police Department.
Under the accountability law, the attorney general can hold law enforcement departments accountable if they are found with a “pattern or practice” of violating people’s rights. The law states the attorney general must notify an agency why they think rights are being violated and give it 60 days to correct itself.
DOJ RESTRICTS AUTHORIZED USE OF CHOKEHOLDS AND NO-KNOCK ENTRY
If an agency fails to make proper adjustments after receiving a notice, the attorney general can file a lawsuit to force action.
In a statement, the APD Chief Vanessa Wilson said it will cooperate with the attorney general’s office to make appropriate changes, adding that the “final consent decree will serve as another resource in our path forward.”
“Today is incredibly difficult for not only the Aurora community but this agency. We acknowledge there are changes to be made,” Wilson said. “We will not broad brush this agency or discount the professionalism and integrity that individual officers bring to our community every day.”
A Colorado grand jury indicted three Aurora police officers and two paramedics in connection to the 2019 death of McClain, a 23-year-old black man who was placed in a chokehold and injected with a strong sedative after receiving a call about a “sketchy” person wearing a ski mask. After being taken to the hospital, McClain was later declared brain-dead and taken off life support. McClain’s family claims McClain was innocent and filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department and city in August.
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The Aurora Police Department has faced other intense scrutiny in recent years, including one viral incident in 2020 when officers held four black girls at gunpoint in a car stop, after which the acting chief of police called it a mistake and apologized.
