Colorado city probe faults police treatment of Elijah McClain

Two people hold posters showing images depicting Elijah McClain during a candlelight vigil for McClain outside the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles on Aug. 24, 2020. The investigation commissioned by the city of Aurora found “two contrasting stories” of what happened to McClain in August 2019 after someone reported him as suspicious: one, based on officers’ statements to investigators, in which police describe a violent, relentless struggle; and another based on body camera footage in which McClain can be heard crying out in pain, apologizing, explaining himself and pleading with the officers as they restrained him, applied “pain compliance” techniques and sat or kneeled on him. Dave Young’s review of the case failed to assess the officers’ conduct and “did not reflect the rigor” of a police investigation “that one would expect” when assessing whether a crime was committed. It said department investigators who questioned the three officers who stopped and arrested McClain “failed to ask basic, critical questions” needed by any prosecutor to determine whether their use of force was legally justified. Gen. Phil Weiser announced he had opened a grand jury investigation into McClain’s death as part of his investigation, saying it provided an “investigative tool” to compel testimony and require the production of documents.