DENVER – A lawsuit filed by a suburban Denver police officer for his firing over a photo re-enacting a chokehold like the one used on Elijah McClain before the 23-year-old Black man died in 2019 has been dismissed.
The lawsuit filed against Aurora’s police chief and city manager was dismissed Wednesday. It alleged that former Aurora officer Jason Rosenblatt was denied his right to an independent review board before he was fired by Chief Vanessa Wilson.
Judge Peter Michaelson approved an agreement by both sides to dismiss the case with prejudice, with each paying their own attorneys’ fees.
Rosenblatt was fired along with two other officers last year over two photos taken in front of a memorial to McClain two months after his death.
Three officers are shown smiling in one photo taken on Oct. 20, 2019, and in another, one has his arm around another’s neck in a fake chokehold like the one used on McClain. One officer texted the photos to Rosenblatt – who was one of the officers involved in McClain’s fatal arrest – and he responded “ha ha."
Officers stopped McClain as he walked down the street after a 911 caller reported he looked suspicious. McClain was also injected with ketamine by paramedics.
