One of the three white officers who stopped Elijah McClain has been fired over photos showing colleagues reenacting the chokehold used before the Black man died last year, according to documents from prosecutors.
After officers stopped McClain on the street last August for “being suspicious,” Aurora Officer Jason Rosenblatt tried to use a chokehold but couldn't because of his position, so another officer did, a report from prosecutors said.
Two months later, Rosenblatt received photos from three fellow officers who smiled as they mimicked a chokehold at the site where McClain was stopped, which had become a public memorial. He responded, “haha."
Rosenblatt and two officers who appeared in the photos were fired from the Aurora Police Department after an internal investigation, the chief announced Friday. The officer who reenacted the chokehold in the photos resigned this week.
McClain’s death got new attention following nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last week ordered the state attorney general to reopen McClain’s case after prosecutors last year declined to charge the officers who confronted him.
Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson assailed the four officers involved with the photos, saying their explanation is that they were “trying to cheer up a friend by sending that photo.”
The police union called the investigation over the photos a rush to judgment.
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