Three Police Officers Are Fired for Photos Mocking Elijah McClain's Death
Three Colorado police officers have been fired for mocking the death of Elijah McClain in photos taken at the site of his memorial, according to the Aurora Police Association.
In at least one of the images, which were taken about two months after McClain passed away, officers — Jaron Jones, Erica Marrero, and Kyle Dittrich — reenacted the chokehold position that led to the 23-year-old's death. Jones resigned earlier this week, while Marrero and Dittrich were fired. A fourth officer, Jason Rosenblatt, who was one of the officers that stopped McClain last year, was also fired for allegedly texting "haha" when he was sent the photo in question.
"We are ashamed, we’re sickened and we’re angry," police chief Vanessa Wilson said at press conference on Friday (July 3). "While the allegations of this internal affairs case are not criminal, it is a crime against humanity and decency."
Aurora's interim police chief has fired two of the three officers who posed for a photo reenacting a chokehold at the site of Elijah McClain's violent arrest — the third already had resigned — and terminated another who received the photo. https://t.co/Pp3pXxWay8
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 3, 2020
Last August, an unarmed McClain was stopped by three officers, who were dispatched after they received a call about a "suspicious person" wearing a mask and waving his arms at the caller. McClain's family said he was walking to get an iced tea for his brother and was wearing a ski mask because he "had anemia and would sometimes get cold."
RELATED: How to Demand Justice for Elijah McClain
When the police arrived at the scene, a struggle ensued, with one officer claiming McClain reached for his gun. Another officer put him a chokehold and pinned him to the ground for 15 minutes. A fire medic assisted the officers and administered 500 mg of ketamine in an attempt to sedate McClain. He suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma, before being removed from life support six days later.
The officers involved were exonerated, but after a petition demanding justice for McClain garnered millions of signatures last month, the Colorado Attorney General's office opened a new investigation into his death.
