⁍ The family of a 23-year-old Black man who died after a violent encounter with Aurora, Colorado, police officers filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and its police on Tuesday.

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⁍ The man, Elijah McClain, was walking on the street alone in August 2019 when he was stopped by three officers based on a report that he was ‘being suspicious’
According to the complaint, the officers held him in two carotid holds around his neck, tackled him although he presented no physical threat, and medics attending to him administered an overdose of ketamine which left him unconscious.

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– The family of a 23-year-old Black man who died after a violent encounter with Colorado police has filed a lawsuit alleging murder and excessive force. Elijah McClain was walking on the street alone in Aurora last August when he was stopped by three officers who said he was “being suspicious,” per Reuters. According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, McClain was held in a chokehold for 18 minutes, tackled, handcuffed, and on the ground for 15 minutes. He died days later in the hospital from an overdose of ketamine, a sedative. The lawsuit also names Aurora Fire Rescue Department personnel as defendants, alleging medics failed to care for McClain when they injected him with ketamine, a powerful sedative, which impaired his breathing. According to the complaint, McClain showed no signs of resisting when medics administered the ketamine; he was lying on the ground and moved only to vomit. The officers have said McClain tried to take their guns, but there is no body camera footage to support those statements, the complaint said. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said last month that it launched a probe into the incident last year. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to review the case in June. Three Aurora police officers were fired and a fourth resigned last month after authorities found that they shared photographs of themselves re-enacting the chokehold used to subdue McClain near the site of the encounter. One of the officers who detained McClain was among those fired.