One of the officers connected to Elijah McClain’s death has been rehired to the Aurora police force. While a police spokesperson said the reinstatement is in alignment with city protocol for the agency, McClain’s mother continues to protest, saying the rehiring of any of those involved with her son’s death is disrespectful.
On Tuesday, Jan. 10, city hiring documents stated Matthew Green, an officer on location at the incident that caused McClain’s death but not charged criminally, was hired back to the Aurora Police Department that day to the rank of patrol officer, the Sentinel Colorado reports.
McClain’s mother Sheneen McClain took issue with the move, saying, “In my opinion, everyone that was there that night and did nothing to help my son stay alive are all accessories to my son’s murder.”
An independent investigation discovered on that August night in 2019, Green and other officers arrived at the scene of the incident after McClain had been wrestled to the ground, restrained, and handcuffed by the arresting officers.
Green, then a K-9 patrol officer, threatened to unleash a police dog on the 23-year-old Black man if he did not comply. Video camera captured him saying to McClain, a young man on the autism spectrum, “Dude, if you keep messing around, I’m gonna bring my dog out; he’s gonna dog-bite you, you understand me? Keep messing around.”
When addressing Green directly, Sheneen McClain said, “He’s an assh-le for taking on the slave mentality of telling a person of color they’re going to be attacked by a police dog.”
Green also restrained McClain relieving officer Jason Rosenblatt and holding down the young man’s legs.
The young man was also placed in a chokehold. APD officers Rosenblatt, Randy Roedema, and Nathan Woodyard were the initial officers on the scene and initiated the altercation. They were later joined by paramedics Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper, who were determined to have…
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