police bruality
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One of the two officers involved in the death of Elijah McClain has been found guilty of homicide while the other was acquitted.
On Thursday (Oct. 12), Aurora, Colorado, police officer Randy Roedema, who was one of two officers who subdued the unarmed Black man Elijah McClain who was injected with ketamine by paramedics in 2019 was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide by the jury. Jason Rosenblatt, the other officer, was acquitted of all charges brought against him.
The split decision by the jury comes after a three-week trial and 16 days of jury deliberation taking place over three days. Roedema is slated to be sentenced Jan. 5, 2024. “This is the divided states of America, and that’s what happens,” said Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, to the press after the verdicts were reached. “This is not a victory for me at all. This is not a victory for the human race. This is not justice,” she continued. “They have an eternal judgment that they have yet to see. And no matter how they try to clean up their slate, they still have my son’s blood on their hands.”
The 23-year-old was walking home on Aug. 24, 2019, when he was confronted by the officers who subdued him by placing him in a chokehold. McClain was then injected with ketamine by first responders on the scene. He died in the hospital days later. The incident, which was partially captured on police body camera footage, sparked outrage among the Black community in Aurora and gained national attention after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 revived interest in the case.
“Everyone in Colorado, everyone in the United States, no matter who you are, is accountable under the law. Hopefully, today’s verdict can be a sign for healing for the Aurora community and for our state,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser after the verdict was announced. Roedema was suspended from the police force, and Rosenblatt would be fired in 2020 after mocking the massage therapist’s death along with other officers via text.
McClain’s death did spur the state to pass a new police accountability law, as well as to ban the use of chokeholds. The use of ketamine has also been restricted. Three more people – officer Nathan Woodyard and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec are slated to go on trial in the coming weeks.
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The specialized SCORPION police unit whose officers were charged for the death of Memphis black man Tyre Nichols, was shut down permanently over the past weekend.
According to a statement from the Memphis Police Department issued Saturday (Jan. 28), Chief C.J. Davis met with officers of the SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods) Unit. All agreed “unreservedly” to disband the unit in order to foster more healing and work with the community. Chief Davis also called for a review of all other specialized units in the department to take place. The full statement was later issued via their Twitter account.
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The permanent abolition of the unit was one of the demands of the family of Tyre Nichols, protesters and other city officials as more details of the brutal beating became known. Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent the Nichols family, released an official statement later that afternoon.
“The Nichols family and their legal team find the decision to permanently disband this unit to be both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis. We hope that other cities take similar action with their saturation police units in the near future to begin to create greater trust in their communities,” the statement said.
The SCORPION unit was created shortly after Davis was hired as chief of police in 2021 as a way to lessen the number of homicides in the city with a focus on other crimes including reckless driving. Twenty-nine-year-old Nichols was confronted by five black officers from the unit at a traffic stop Jan. 7. Nichols was allegedly driving reckless and was pulled over.
Chief Davis would later state to NBC News that they were unable to find evidence for that stop on video. The five officers – Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith – brutally beat him. Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He died of his injuries Jan. 10.
The city released the footage of the assault Friday evening (Jan. 27), sparking further outrage. That same day, all five cops posted bond and are out of jail ahead of their Feb. 17 court appearance.
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