> Police stopped Elijah McClain on the street in suburban Denver last year after deeming the young Black man suspicious. He was thrown into a chokehold, threatened with a dog and stun gun, then subjected to another law enforcement tool before he died: a drug called ketamine. From the very beginning this story makes no sense. Suspicious is not a crime. An earlier story makes things seem even worse: > While McClain was…
> Wearing a ski mask in public during the summer, although odd, is not a crime, either. I don't know much at all about the McClain case, but your statement seems to have a flawed assumption that a crime is required before police can legitimately get involved. Policing doesn't only occur after a crime is committed. A big part of policing is about deterrence: being visible, talking with people in the community, investi…
> When officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema stopped Elijah McClain on his way home, one telling him that he was "being suspicious," according to police body camera video. McClain responded, "I have a right to go where I am going."
> The officers immediately grabbed McClain, who repeatedly told them to let him go.
This has nothing to do with being visible, talking with the community, investigating suspicious activity, or double-checking that nothing is wrong.