Liz and Lee Heidhues – 9.2.2021
Elijah McClain a 23-year-old Black man with chronic anemia, who played his violin to soothe stray cats and dogs, was murdered on 8.23.2019 by Aurora, Colorado police while walking home from a grocery store after buying iced tea.
Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain’s mother, said: “What I set out to do is still not over, but I’m halfway there. I’m halfway there,” of her efforts to hold the cops accountable for the murder of her son.
On Wednesday, 9.1.2021, a Colorado State Grand Jury indicted the cops on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, in addition to criminal charges of assault and violence.
Elijah McClain was assaulted and brutally murdered by the cops because he was “different”.
The cops who murdered Elijah McClain would not have been charged if the wanton killing of this gentle musician hadn’t provoked a national outcry and his mother hadn’t filed a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit.
An investigation into the 23 year old’s murder would never have happened were it not for dozens of peaceful protests across the United States by violinists playing their instruments to honor the gentle musician who wanted to heal through his hands.
Police body camera video show an officer approaching Mr. McClain and saying, “I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious”.
Because he suffered from chronic anemia, Mr. McClain frequently wore layers of clothing and a face mask due to being cold.
Elijah McClain tells the cops who stopped him, “I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff . . . I don’t do guns. I don’t even kill flies.”
The cops put Mr. McClain in a chokehold and continued to torture him after he told them he couldn’t breathe.
The paramedics who injected Mr. McClain with a powerful anesthetic were also charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Paramedics injected Mr. McClain with Ketamine. Medical practitioners and veterinarians use Ketamine to produce sedation, amnesia, and relief of pain.
The amount of Ketamine injected in Mr. McClain’s body far exceeded the appropriate amount for someone of Mr. McClain’s size and weight.
Elijah McClain never regained consciousness and was pronounced brain dead at a hospital.
In 2019, the local District Attorney declined to file charges against the police after a coroner’s report could not determine Mr. McClain’s cause of death. Historically most District Attorneys have acted as an enabler of abusive and criminal behavior by the cops by looking the other way and allowing their crimes to go unpunished.
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/02/elijah-mclain-charges-manslaughter-negligent-homicide/
Attached is a link to Democracy Now with a video segment discussing the September 1, 2021 indictment of the murderers of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/9/2/officers_charged_elijah_mcclain_death
Lee's Perspective 