Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser launched a new probe into the death of unarmed, 23-year old Elijah McClain in Colorado in 2019. The US Justice Department has also launched a civil rights probe into the death of the unarmed young man by police.

With echoes of the infamous choking death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, the family of McClain has filed a civil lawsuit alleging excessive force and murder against “Black people.”

Elijah McClain was a 23-year old unarmed Black man who went out for a walk along an Aurora (Denver) street and ended dead after an encounter with three police officers. Like so many American men of color, McClain was not found breaking any laws but still ended up dead after a fatal encounter with police where he was choked to death and forcefully restrained for eighteen minutes.

McClain was subdued by the three officers as he was walking alone in a local Colorado neighborhood in August on a hot summer night. The police officers said he was acting “suspiciously,” but body cam evidence tells a different story.

In the body cam video of the arrest and forcible restraint, the 23-year old’s last words were haunting as he gasped, vomited and passed out during the officer’s chokehold. The young man died due to being placed in a carotid chokehold by police, then going into cardiac arrest from the chokehold, and finally injected with Ketamine by paramedics. In his last words to the police, he pleaded for his young life and begged for help.

“I can’t breathe,” said McClain. “I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That’s my house. I was just going home. I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! I don’t eat meat! But I don’t judge people, I don’t judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity, I’ll do it. You all are phenomenal. You are beautiful and I love you. Try to forgive me. I’m a mood Gemini. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ow, that really hurt. You are all very strong. Teamwork makes the dream work. Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to do that. I just can’t breathe correctly.”

A carotid chokehold is one of two chokeholds used by law enforcement. In a respiratory chokehold, police put their arm across the person’s neck, blocking the airways so they cannot breathe. In a carotid chokehold, the police place their arm across the neck but also pressure both sides of the neck to slow the blood from flowing through the arteries and render that person unconscious.

In a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court by the McClain family, charges of murder and excessive force of Black people are included, with a specific complaint that Elijah McClain begged for his life, saying “I can’t breathe.”

Mari Newman, the attorney for the McClain family, said the video provides ample evidence that his death was murder.

In a written statement Newman said, “There is no doubt that the video itself provides probable cause to believe that Aurora police and medics committed multiple crimes when they killed Elijah McClain. Prosecutors are not required to use a grand jury and don’t in most cases, so we are forced to question whether this is yet another example of law enforcement being held to a different standard than every other person being investigated for murder.”

Immediately after the death of McClain, the Denver and Aurora Police banned all use of any chokeholds on suspects.