The report also questions the officers’ statements about McClain’s “superior strength,” criticizes emergency medical responders’ rash decision to inject him with the sedative drug ketamine and admonishes the police department for failing to seriously question the officers afterward.
“At the time of the (ketamine) injection, Mr. McClain had not moved or made any sounds for about one minute,” the report states. “In addition, EMS administered a ketamine dosage based on a grossly inaccurate and inflated estimate of Mr. McClain’s size.”
The attorneys for his mother, Sheneen McClain, released a statement Monday praising the investigative report and slamming the police department’s “sham investigation.”
“Aurora is responsible for Elijah’s tragic death by virtue of its employees’ unlawful and unconscionable actions,” the attorneys said.
“Elijah believed in humanity and that humanity mattered,” Sheneen McClain said in the statement. “Inhumane humans are a problem and we must stop unjust laws.”
“This report confirms what we have been saying from the start,” McClain’s father, LaWayne Mosley, said in a statement. “The Aurora police and medics who murdered my son must be held accountable.”
Sheneen McClain cried when the report was released, she told CNN’s Omar Jimenez on Monday.
“It was overwhelming knowing my son was innocent the entire time and just waiting on the facts and proof of it,” McClain said. “My son’s name is cleared now, he’s no longer labeled a suspect. He is actually a victim.”
She admitted, through tears, that she’d watched the body camera footage over and over because she never got to say goodbye.
“I looked at everything that happened to him because it’s my responsibility,” she said. “Even in death, he’s still my son. His name, his legacy. All that matters.”
Police declined to comment further on the report. CNN has reached out to Aurora Fire Rescue for comment.
The Aurora city council funded the report in an attempt to get a third-party, independent examination of McClain’s case. The investigation was conducted by a panel made up of Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; Roberto Villaseñor, the former Tucson Police chief; and Dr. Melissa Costello, a practicing emergency medicine physician and EMS medical director based in Mobile, Alabama.
In investigating the case, the panel relied on the 911 call, officer body camera footage, reports and narratives of the incident and medical records. The panel also relied on seven filmed interviews with officers and first responders on scene that had been conducted by a Aurora Police Major Crime/Homicide Unit detective. However, these seven witnesses declined to be interviewed by the panel.
The investigative team is expected to present its findings to Aurora’s city council Monday afternoon. The city manager, police and fire chiefs and members of the investigative team then plan to hold a virtual news conference Tuesday morning.
What happened that night
The investigative report released Monday noted that an officer must have a “reasonable” suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a stop. The decision to stop McClain, however, “did not appear to be supported” by any officer’s reasonable…
Read More: Elijah McClain: Aurora Police did not have basis to stop, frisk or restrain him, investigation finds