Three of the Aurora, Colorado, police officers who mocked the chokehold death of Elijah McClain have been terminated.
Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson did not take long after the internal investigation to fire Erica Marrero and Kyle Dittrich for taking a photo in front of the makeshift memorial for McClain.
The officers claimed they took and disseminated the photo mocking McClain’s violent demise because they thought it would raise the morale of the department. The APD has been besieged by protests and negative national press since McClain’s death.
“How anybody could think that was going to make anybody happy is beyond me,” Wilson told reporters after she fired two of the officers in the photo.
Another cop, Jason Rosenblatt, was terminated because he replied “HaHa,” when shown the photo of the desecration of McClain’s memory, MSNBC reports. Rosenblatt was one of the officers who originally responded to the call regarding McClain in August 2019.
The photo debacle was announced days after peaceful protests excavated the nearly year-old case from the shelves during this era of racial reckoning sparked by the death of George Floyd.
McClain, a 23-year-old violin player, died days after his violent encounter with officers. Cops reportedly zeroed in on McClain because he appeared “suspicious” as he walked home even though he was not suspected of committing a crime.
McClain died six days later, MSNBC reports, yet none of the officers who are linked to McClain’s inexplicable death have been punished, terminated or charged in the case.
