Colorado city settles civil rights suit by Elijah McClain family for $15 mln

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DENVER, Nov. 19 (Reuters) – The city of Aurora, Colorado has agreed to pay $ 15 million to settle the family civil rights lawsuit of Elijah McClain, a black man who died in 2019 after being detained by police was overwhelmed and injected by paramedics with a sedative, both sides announced on Friday.

The agreement, which marks the largest civil rights arrangement in the state’s history, came about nine weeks after the Colorado Attorney General closed an investigation that found Aurora’s police routinely violated state and federal laws by conducting racially biased policing and excessive violence started.

The investigation resulted in a consent issuance with the Aurora City Police Department, a suburb of Denver of approximately 369,000 residents, that allowed an independent observer to review the department’s training, policies, and practices.

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On September 1, three police officers and two paramedics implicated in McClain’s death were charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide. These cases are pending.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, confirmed the settlement amount in a written statement issued by her attorney after the city announced the deal.

“No amount of money will ever bring Elijah back to his mother,” the statement said. “MS. McClain would give back every penny for just one more day with her son.”

Elijah McClain, 23, was walking home from a supermarket in Aurora on August 24, 2019 when he was confronted by police who were responding to reports that he had acted suspiciously despite not being suspected of a crime.

Police placed McClain in his carotid artery and was later injected with ketamine, a strong sedative, by paramedics. He suffered cardiac arrest and died in a hospital days later.

“I WAS ONLY HOME”

In a videotape of the encounter with a police-worn body camera, McClain sobbing was heard pleading with officers to hold him back: “I can’t breathe, please stop. I was just about to go home. “

The episode initially received little attention outside of Colorado. But the case attracted renewed attention and public outrage when protesters against racial injustice and police brutality took to the streets in the United States in the summer of 2020 after George Floyd, a black man who was accused of attempting to pass a fraudulent law A white policeman from Minneapolis died under his knees.

The officer in the case, Derek Chauvin, was later sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder.

Colorado prosecutors initially declined to prosecute McClains’ case, citing an autopsy that listed the cause of death as unexplained. But Governor Jared Polis ordered the attorney general to open a new investigation last year, which resulted in 32-count indictments against police and paramedics in September.

The local police union called the charges “hysterical overreaction” at the time and found that an earlier investigation had acquitted the officers of wrongdoing.

In a written statement Friday, McClain’s father, LaWayne Mosley, said he hoped the big payout would “send a message to police everywhere that there are consequences for their actions”.

“I hope Elijah’s legacy is that the police think twice before killing another innocent person,” he said.

Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson said Friday that her department had made “significant changes” in response to the tragedy.

The final agreement comes after a mediation hearing between McClain’s family members in federal court on Friday, the city said.

Local government liability insurance will cover $ 10 million of severance pay, the maximum amount it can pay. The remaining $ 5 million will be paid from Aurora’s general fund, the city said.

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Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Writing from Steve Gorman; Editing by Chris Reese, David Gregorio and Daniel Wallis

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/colorado-city-pay-15-million-settle-civil-rights-suit-by-elijiah-mcclain-family-2021-11-19/