Elijah McClain's final words are synonymous with the tragic case that led to 1 officer's conviction
A demonstrator carries an image of Elijah McClain during a rally and march, June 27, 2020, in Aurora, Colo. Jurors convicted a Denver-area police officer Thursday, Oct. 14, 2023, and acquitted another of charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became a rallying cry in protests over racial injustice in policing. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
BRIGHTON, Colo. — As the death of Elijah McClain became a rallying point at police reform rallies in Colorado and across the county in 2020, the young man's final words became synonymous with the tragic case.
Prosecutors also played them during a trial for two officers charged in his death that culminated Thursday when jurors convicted one officer of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault and acquitted another.
“I can't breathe,” he said as police pinned him to the ground on a summer night in 2019. "My name is Elijah McClain... “I’m just different! I’m just different. That’s all! That’s all I was doing!”
Here are excerpts from more than three hours of police body camera footage from the encounter with law enforcement and paramedics on Aug. 24, 2019, in the Denver suburb of Aurora. It started after a 911 caller reported that McClain looked “sketchy." After being pinned down and given the sedative ketamine, he died three days later.
A third officer and paramedics involved in the death are awaiting trial.
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THE BEGINNING OF THE ENCOUNTER
A makeshift memorial stands at a site across the street from where Elijah McClain was stopped by Aurora, Colo., Police Department officers before family members hold a news conference, July 3, 2020, in Aurora, Colo. Lawyers are to deliver closing arguments Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in the trial of the first two police officers to be prosecuted in the 2019 death of McClain, a Black man who was put in a neck hold and pinned down by officers in the Denver suburb of Aurora before paramedics injected him with a powerful sedative. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
— Officer: Do me a favor. Stop right there. Hey, stop right there. Stop. Stop.
— Elijah McClain: I have a right (crosstalk).
— Officer: Stop. Stop. I have a right to stop you, because you’re being suspicious.
— Elijah McClain: Well, okay.
Sheneen McClain, mother of Elijah McClain, raises her arm as she leaves the courtroom after hearing the verdict in the trial involving the 2019 death of her son on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
— Officer: Turn around. Turn around.
— Elijah McClain: I see your (inaudible).
— Officer: Turn around. Stop. Stop tensing up, dude.
— Elijah McClain: Let go of me.
— Officer: Stop tensing up, bro. Stop tensing up.
— Elijah McClain: Let go of me.
— Officer: Stop tensing up.
— Elijah McClain: Let me go.
— Officer: Stop tensing up.
— Elijah McClain: No, let go of me.
— Elijah McClain: No. I am an introvert!
— Officer: Stop tensing up.
— Elijah McClain: Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.
— Officer: Stop tensing up.
— Elijah McClain: Stop. Stop!
— Officer: Relax.
— Elijah McClain: I’m going home!
— Officer: Relax, or I’m going to have to change this situation.
— Elijah McClain: Leave me alone!
— Officer: Stop.
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WHEN OFFICERS TAKE MCCLAIN TO THE GROUND
— Elijah McClain: You guys started to arrest me and I was stopping my music to listen. Now let go of me.
— Officer: (inaudible) Let’s get over to grass there. Lay you down (inaudible).
— Elijah McClain: I intend to take my power back because I intend to be (inaudible) I get to be (inaudible).
— Officer: (crosstalk) He just grabbed your gun, dude.
— Officer: (crosstalk) Stop, dude! (inaudible). Get us some more units. We’re fighting him.
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WHEN MCCLAIN IS PINNED DOWN
— Elijah McClain: I can’t breathe!
— Officer 1: Get him on back, he’s getting cuffs.
— Officer 2: (Inaudible) In a bar-hammer.
— Officer 1: Stop!
— Officer 2: Stop!
— Elijah McClain: I can’t breathe, please stop!
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