By Viviane Faver

 

Aurora, Colorado lawyers, police officers, and doctors involved in Elijah McClain’s death filed several motions with the US Colorado District Court last week to dismiss a lawsuit filed by McClain’s family in August. 

 

The lawsuit alleges that discriminatory practices are what led police officers to put a black man in a stranglehold and paramedics to “recklessly” administer the drugs that contributed to the 23-year-old’s death.

One of the motions made last Monday by lawyers for the three officers who confronted McClain last year claimed that there is no evidence that officers treated McClain any differently than they would if he were white.

 

 “The death of Elijah McClain is a tragedy,” said the motion, Channel 9 News reported. “However, this tragedy was not caused by deliberate and discriminatory acts or omissions by the APD Defendants (Aurora Police Department).” 

 

The department said the same thing in a statement last month, adding that “ODA defendants deny that they used excessive force against Mr. McClain in violation of the Fourth Amendment, that he was denied equal protection by law under the Fourteenth Amendment and that caused his death by aggression or negligence.

 

 “According to the Denver Post, the city of Aurora has also filed a lawsuit to dismiss the action. In that move, lawyers argued against the lawsuit’s claim that city policies have led police officers in the police department – as well as paramedics from Aurora Fire Rescue – violating McClain’s constitutional rights and causing his death. 

 

The city’s motion argues that the process “only makes conclusive claims about the alleged lack of training”, but does not specify problems with “general training”. Instead, the defendants allege that the lawsuit alleges facts that merely suggest “deficiencies in the training and supervision of individual officers.” According to the AP, Mari Newman, a lawyer representing the McClain family, released a statement calling the movements “desperate” and saying she expects the court to be on the side of her clients.