Elijah McClain’s Family Reaches Federal Lawsuit Settlement With City Of Aurora
The family of Elijah McClain, the 23-year-old Black man who was killed by Aurora, Colorado police during an attempted arrest in 2019, reached a settlement with the city.
Attorneys for McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, said the settlement for an unspecified amount was reached on Oct. 18, “resolving all claims raised in her federal civil rights lawsuit,” CBS Denver reports.
McClain’s father, LaWayne Mosley, released a statement through his attorney: “Nothing will bring back his son Elijah, who he loved dearly, but he is hopeful that this settlement with Aurora, and the criminal charges against the officers and medics who killed Elijah, will allow his family and the community to begin to heal.”
The family filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in August 2020. It named several Aurora police officers, a paramedic, and a medical director, alleging that they used excessive force, failed to provide medical care and was negligent. It also said the Aurora Police Department has “persistently” exhibited brutality against people of color.
In September, the Colorado State Attorney General’s office investigated the Aurora Police Department and announced that it uncovered “a pattern and practice of violating state and federal law through racially biased policing, using excessive force, and failing to record legally required information when interacting with the community.”
McClain was reportedly walking home from a convenience store on August 24, 2019, when police responded to a call of a “suspicious man” with a ski mask. Officers detained McClain by placing him in a chokehold. Paramedics arrived on the scene and injected him with a large dosage of ketamine to sedate him.
Body camera footage shows McClain being wrestled to the ground, vomiting, crying and gasping “I can’t breathe,” as police detained him. Three days later, he was declared brain dead and an autopsy was found inconclusive.
