Union: Colorado officer fired in Elijah McClain photo probe
FILE - In this June 27, 2020, file photo, demonstrators carry a giant placard during a rally and march over the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain outside the police department in Aurora, Colo. Multiple suburban Denver police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into photos of them related to the case of a Black man who died last summer after he was stopped and restrained, police said Monday, June 29, 2020. The interim police chief of the city of Aurora, Vanessa Wilson, said in a statement that the suspended officers were "depicted in photographs near …
FILE - In this Saturday, June 27, 2020, file photo, demonstrators march down Sable Boulevard during a rally and march over the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, in Aurora, Colo. One of the police officers investigated over photographs connected with McClain's death has resigned, Aurora police said Thursday, July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - In this June 27, 2020, file photo, Sheneen McClain speaks during a rally and march over the death of her 23-year-old son Elijah McClain, outside the police department in Aurora, Colo. One of the police officers investigated over photographs connected with Elijah McClain's death has resigned, Aurora police said Thursday, July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — A suburban Denver officer has been fired amid an internal investigation into photos showing police near where Elijah McClain was put in a chokehold and later died, a police union said Friday.
The Aurora Police Association published the Facebook post shortly before the Police Department is set to provide an update on the investigation into the photographs. Authorities have not yet said what they depict.
The police union's statement said the fired officer did not participate in taking or distributing the photos. It also said the investigation took nine days, while a standard internal affairs case takes months.
“This investigation is a rush to judgment,” the unsigned statement said.
McClain’s death in August got new attention following nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice. Facing increasing pressure, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last week ordered the state attorney general to reopen the case after prosecutors last year declined to charge the three white officers who confronted McClain.
Word of the photos emerged soon afterward. Aurora police launched an investigation last week after another officer reported the photos that were taken near where the 23-year-old was stopped — a site that’s now a memorial.
An unspecified number of officers were suspended during the investigation, and one resigned this week.
Officers stopped McClain, a massage therapist, after a 911 call on Aug. 24, 2019, reported him as suspicious because he was wearing a ski mask and flailing his arms. Police said they had a right to stop him because he was “being suspicious,” and he begged them repeatedly to let go of him, according to body-camera video.
Police placed him in a chokehold that cuts off blood to the brain, and paramedics administered 500 milligrams of a sedative to calm him down. He suffered cardiac arrest, was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.
