Thread by @PadmaLakshmi

On August 24th of last year, 23 y/o Elijah McClain, a massage therapist who loved animals & often played violin for stray cats at Petco, was detained on his way home from picking up an iced tea for his brother in Aurora, Colorado.

He was listening to music & dancing.

Elijah was wearing an open-face ski mask, like the one pictured here, as he was anemic & usually cold, even in warm weather.

A man named Juan called 9-1-1 reporting that he saw someone who looked "sketchy", but stated he wasn't afraid of him and he [Elijah] appeared unarmed.

Soon 3 @AuroraPD officers (L-R): Randy Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt & Nathan Woodyard approached Elijah who was understandably shaken.

Then the 3 men tackled the 140-lb McClain to the ground, put him in a carotid hold (a sleeper hold that cuts off blood flow to the brain)

According to the police body camera footage, the officers said "Dude. Chill out!", while restraining Elijah, who was on the ground vomiting, begging, saying "I can’t breathe."

One of the officers says, "Don’t move again. If you move again, I’m calling in a dog to bite you."

Elijah was handcuffed facedown on the ground when Lt. Peter Cichuniec of @AuroraFireDp ordered a 500 mg Ketamine shot to sedate him. @FalckRockyMtn provided & medic Jeremy Cooper administered the drug to Elijah: bit.ly/2Z3QNLz

The @FalckRockyMtn report later stated the 500 mg of Ketamine was meant for someone who weighed 220 pounds. [McClain weighed 140 lbs] The appropriate dose for someone his size would have been 350 mg.

Directly after he was shot with ketamine Elijah went into cardiac arrest twice in the ambulance. At the hospital, he was later pronounced brain dead and died on August 30th.

His last words were:

The @AuroraPD placed the 3 officers on administrative leave, but they are now back on normal duty.

@da17colorado stated there wasn't a "likelihood of success of proving any state crimes beyond a reasonable doubt at trial... therefore no state criminal charges will be filed."

.@AuroraGov council members called for an independent review of the case:

Help here: linktr.ee/Justiceforelij…

Call Colorado Gov. @jaredpolis: (303)-866-2471

Call @AuroraMayorMike:
(303)-739-7015

Call @da17colorado:
(720)-887-2199

#JusticeForElijahMcClain