Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/05/city-of-aurora-files-to-dismiss-elijah-mcclain-wrongful-death-lawsuit.html
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Fuck the City of Aurora.
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As a former Auroran, 2nd that.
Fuck the city of Aurora.
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I had never heard of Elijah McClain until I attended one of the BLM rallies in our area. A young Black woman took the mike and proceeded to simply recite the transcript of his death. She didn’t preface it, so I couldn’t tell what was going on at first. By the end it became crystal clear and utterly heartbreaking. Just a nerdy kid who happened to be Black. He probably caught abuse his whole life from thugs like the Aurora PD.
These are his last words. Filled with compassion and forgiveness for his murders up to the moment he drew his last breath:
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The city’s dismissal request alleges that the family’s lawsuit fails to support its claim of liability for insufficient training and supervision of the police department and its paramedics.
Any normal company would be shut down for this kind of gross incompetence.
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He was straight up fucking murdered. Read that transcript, all of you.
It’s short, but I can’t imagine any words that show more how harmless someone is and how forgiving someone is as someone is harming and murdering them.
I would go further than fire the 3 for this- I would throw all three in jail for murder for the rest of their lives.
This is heinousness of the 1st degree. When I see people saying “Support the police”- I’ll show them his last words. The police aren’t under attack- they are just intensely and rightfully hated for consecutively murdering unarmed black men non stop. It happened 3 blocks from my former front door in Pittsburgh with Antwon Rose. Granted, his circumstances were a bit different, but same result.
I happen to be white. But I don’t happen to- I AM- sick of this gestapo shit!
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No, white supremacy is. The police are the glove on its fist and if the glove can’t be removed, it will come off with the hand.
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Aurora and its police are poster children for abuse of power and lack of accountability. The cops seem to resent having to help anyone, but jump to hurt people. My recent experience? I was rear-ended by a big Chevy Silverado while driving. WTF? The jerk rammed me three times at speeds of 40mph in traffic before a stoplight turned red. Then, he rammed me again when I stopped, backed up, did it again, and took off. This was all caught on video with his plates visible. The responding cop looked at the video, shrugged, and told me, “We won’t be pursuing this case.” He gave me a number to call for an update–it was disconnected. End of story.
Here are some other examples of Aurora’s police in action:
Cop found passed out in patrol car, drunk. Keeps job. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/11/aurora-police-officer-drunk-driving/
(Then) Chief defends: https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/aurora-police-chief-defends-handling-of-officer-found-drunk-in-patrol-car-in-letter-to-staff/73-799e895c-a789-4515-b228-bf1cac98b71a
Elijah McClain was not the first to get K at the request of lazy cops: https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/investigations/aurora-body-camera-video-shows-police-asking-medics-to-give-powerful-drugs-to-suspect-to-calm-him
Killing a 73y/o man in his own home https://www.denverpost.com/2018/12/03/no-charges-aurora-officer-involved-shooting-gary-black/
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I am sorry to hear this.
If you are willing, here might be an option to consider, though I have yet to engage them myself. You may want to wait until the new president is sworn in, though systemic problems will continue until they are rooted out, and changed.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/addressing-police-misconduct
ETA: and I will be contacting Justice.gov re Aurora, though right now I expect that the white supremacy open season tacit and overt endorsement from Cult45 have emboldened lots of bad faith Powers That Be to not give a shit about exactly these kinds of complaints, i.e. the murder of Elijah McClain.
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I want to live in a world where people can walk down the street without being attacked by thugs. Do you?
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i heard a jaw dropping piece about this on “here and now”
In Colorado over the past two and a half years, police injected suspects with ketamine more than 900 times for excited delirium
long story short, there’s a theoretical medical condition called “excited delirium” ( which echos the racist tropes of the unstoppable strength of black men ) and is basically a new and exciting way for police to restrain or punish suspects
something like 15-20% of the people forcibly drugged have had serious side effects
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I can just wonder uselessly what the fuck is wrong with these people and this police department. Are they actively looking to recruit violent sociopaths? It must be the case for there to be three of them involved and none of them showing any mercy for their victim. Horrific.
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Why the hell do non-clinicians get to inject people with drugs?
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My ex’s father said something once that really resonated. Long story short, he had joined a “commune” (read: cult) in the 70s. Surprise, the founders were pedophiles and they broke up in the late 80s because he was being pursued by multiple nations for criminal charges. When he was asked about how he could have overlooked it, his response was something like:
“We didn’t realize anything was happening until much later. It’s not like someone decides they want to be a pedophile. It’s a million little decisions one makes over a span of time that build to something heinous and unrecognizable.”
In this case, they overlooked infractions that may have seemed minor or exaggerated by the victims until it became the normalized behavior of a whole group of people who would have otherwise been horrified. This is what “Thin Blue Line” really means.
Post script: I just went to look up the cult leader’s name just to see if there was any information to share. The top hit was of a young Black man who had been murdered by a cop.
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I’m going to be the bearer of an unpopular opinion: moving to dismiss is almost never unexpected or newsworthy. Aurora’s lawyers, like all lawyers (including the lawyers for Mr. McClain’s family) have a duty to zealously advocate for their client. That means pressing the legal arguments available to them and making sure that Mr. McClain’s lawyers prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence. The first step in doing that is showing a court that their complaint has pleaded facts sufficient to state a claim on which relief can be granted consistent with the law, which is all that a motion to dismiss tests.
Just as even guilty criminals require defense attorneys so that the State is put to its (much higher in criminal cases) burden of proof, the adversarial civil liability system works only when plaintiffs’ lawyers are put to their proof.
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That caller got a kid killed because he was waving his arms while wearing a ski mask. Which is none of the callers fucking business in the first place.
The family should also sue the caller for inciting a murder.
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in colorado, i think the police get the paramedics to do it by signing some sort of waiver/order.
and while the paramedics are partially to blame, im sure nobody wants to be singled out for crossing the cops. not especially when they rely on each other so much. ( same issue with local prosecutors and criminal cops )
how it’s legal to force drugs on someone who is able to give consent but doesnt is beyond me. it’s truly sickening. and that’s not a description i’d use often
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“The lawsuit was filed in August against the city and several police officers and paramedics and alleges that they were responsible for McClain’s death.”
If the city, police, and/or EMTs aren’t responsible for Elijah’s death, then who is? I think you’ve answered that question.
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Well, if people went to jail for calling the cops on innocent Black people, they would stop calling the police. That is a good thing in my book.
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The story of Elijah McClain’s murder by the City of Aurora at once breaks my heart and leaves me seething with anger.
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