RE: THE MURDER OF ELIJAH MCCLAIN)
ATTENTION Colorado GOV Jared Polis, Aurora MAYOR MIKE COFFMAN, Police Dept Chief Vanessa Wilson ATTORN GEN Phil Wieser
"This situation should have never gotten to the point of there being a ‘struggle’ as your three officers describe it.
Your police officers didn’t even have the right to touch Elijah.
They had no right to call Elijah suspicious.
Based on what? Elijah not being white?
But, let’s start with your officers having information from the 911 call that this man had done nothing wrong, but simply looked ‘suspicious’.
How did your officers know that the person making the 911 call was not biased against people of color?
Your three officers only job was to very carefully assess the situation without judgment or bias or stepping on an innocent citizen’s rights.
But, your officer started his approach of the innocent citizen Mr. Elijah McClain - not suspected of committing crime, mind you - with saying “You’re acting suspicious!!!”
Biased from the very beginning. Racist racial profiling from the very beginning.
And that biased judgment on the part of your three officers colored all their actions from that moment forward and resulted in Elijah’s death.
From the beginning your officers handled this situation with a blatant disregard for this citizen Elijah McClain’s rights. It’s your officer’s disrespect for the laws in place to protect innocent citizen’s rights that resulted in this young man’s agitation and eventually his death.
Your officer’s poor judgment, bias and refusal to respect an American citizens rights makes them complicit in this young man’s death.
The paramedics/ fire department responded to the situation at the direction of your officers. The paramedics, too, need to be held accountable for their negligent actions.
U.S. citizen Elijah McClain was upset. Of course he was tense. He was an innocent man whose rights as a taxpaying citizen of your state were being violated. He had a right to stand up for himself. And he was standing up for himself in the best way he could. But, did your officers take the time to listen to him. No? But, they had a duty to do so.
Your officer’s job was to assess the situation. Not to put their hands on Mr. Elijah McClain.
U.S. citizen Elijah McClain was not suspected of any crime.
Shame on your system for not bringing everyone involved in Elijah McClain’s death to justice.
Why do these officers still have a job?
Why have they not been fired for violating this young man’s rights?
Why have they not been fired for using a choke hold?
Why have these officers not been fired for escalating a nonviolent situation with a nonviolent American citizen to a place of violence and eventual death?
These officers obviously wanted to punish an American citizen for asserting his rights. Why? Why was this young man punished for standing up for his right not to be assumed guilty; not to be assumed ‘suspicious’?
From the video, it appears that your officers were using this young man’s distress as entertainment. These three officers seem to find violating this young man’s civil rights as entertaining. They seem to find the manner in which this young man advocating for himself verbally as entertaining. They seem to find escalating a situation that did not warrant force to a point to violence and death entertaining. That is sick. There is no place for them in law enforcement.
Why was Mr. Elijah McClain not allowed to walk on immediately once they realized he was not doing anything wrong?
Your officers escalated a situation involving an innocent 23-year old law-abiding citizen to a point tragedy and they need to be held accountable. You need to look into every attempt to cover up what happened here. Every attempt to bury this, every attempt to deflect culpability and every attempt for these officers to create a scenario that justifies their disgusting disregard for an American citizen’s right to walk down the street in peace and to be handled with the utmost respect and care is a reflection upon your officials refusal to bring officers who are unworthy of the badge to justice and it makes you complicit in this attempt to deny this young man justice."
D. Baucum, California
mcoffman@auroragov.org
governorpolis@state.co.us
info@philforcolorado.com