Elijah McClain was a 23-year-old Black man who was stopped and killed by police in Aurora, Colorado after a civilian called the cops on him on August 24, 2019.
McClain was walking home from a gas station when a nearby person thought he looked “suspicious” and called 911. McClain, who was anemic, was wearing a ski mask to protect himself from the cold. When police officers reached McClain, they placed him in a chokehold for fifteen minutes before he was taken to a local hospital where he died.
This is Elijah McClain’s sister Naomi she said the cops that killed her brother got transferred to Denver PD and those same cops have patrolled around her apartment and have been to the store where their sister works #ElijahMcClain #JusticeForElijahMcClain pic.twitter.com/76mpDcbmhi
— Auntie Ari ♀️ (@auraambitions) June 22, 2020
Naomi, Elijah’s sister, posted a TikTok explaining her brother’s murder.
According to reports, McClain repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe while he was held in a chokehold, the same maneuver that killed George Floyd and Eric Garner, and began to vomit before he fell unconscious. When paramedics arrived, and he was sedated to subdue his “anxiety,” although he was already unresponsive.
The sedative had an adverse effect and caused McClain to have a heart attack on the way to the hospital, where he later fell into a coma. Three days later, he was removed from life support and pronounced dead. The cause of his death was never officially determined and the officers involved in his death were transferred to the Denver PD.
Prior to the death of George Floyd, news of McClain’s struggle with police went relatively unheard. Like many others, his death did not receive extensive media coverage until nearly a year later. Now, in light of a re-invigorated Black Lives Matter movement, McClain’s family is fighting to have his case reopened and the officers involved in his death indicted. The hashtag #JusticeforElijahMcClain has called for an investigation into the case.
