AURORA | Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard will return to his job after being acquitted for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who Woodyard placed in a chokehold, the city announced Monday.
Woodyard has been on unpaid leave since he was indicted in September 2021 on multiple felony charges in connection with the 23-year-old’s death. A jury found Woodyard not guilty of manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide earlier this month, making him eligible to return to work.
“(Woodyard) has elected to reintegrate with the APD and is currently on restricted duty (not in uniform, no public contact, and no enforcement actions) pending next steps in the reintegration process,” city spokesperson Ryan Luby said in an email. “As we have shared publicly numerous times previously, the city is bound by the relevant city charter language.”
The city charter says in part that a police officer who is indicted for a felony should be suspended without pay but that “such suspension shall be terminated by restoration to the service or by discharge as soon as the decision of the court becomes final.”
Luby said the city had to reinstate Woodyard to comply with the charter, describing the process as “automatic” following the cop’s acquittal. Luby wrote that Woodyard will be expected to complete a period of “reintegration” for an undetermined length of time, during which he will be trained on policies that have changed since he was placed on leave.
“Upon successful completion of the reintegration process and after accounting for any other circumstances that may arise, Mr. Woodyard would be eligible for reassignment to a position within the department at the chief’s discretion,” Luby wrote.
He said Woodyard will also receive $212,546.04 in backpay.
Interim police chief Art Acevedo said Monday night that it would be “premature” to talk about what assignment Woodyard might be given but that it was unlikely the officer would return to patrol duties.
“I don’t think it’ll happen while I’m here,” Acevedo said. “He won’t be on patrol.”
He also said that Woodyard is still on leave and that he didn’t yet know if Woodyard would choose to go through the reintegration process.
When asked what he would say to residents concerned about Woodyard returning to the police force, Acevedo said Aurora is bound by the personnel rules described in the charter.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, but at the end of the day, we do have a nation where the rule of law matters, and if he was found by a jury to not be guilty of a crime, and the city charter requires that he be reinstated, I think we’re either all-in with the rule of law or we’re not, regardless of how we personally feel. But, having said that, just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” Acevedo said.
Of the two other Aurora police officers charged in McClain’s death, Randy Roedema was found guilty of a felony in October, making him ineligible to work as a police officer.
Jason Rosenblatt was fired in 2020 for replying “ha ha” in a text message to pictures of police officers re-enacting the chokehold that was performed on McClain. Luby said the city’s civil service rules require that a former employee must have left in “good standing” to be rehired and said “the department and city do not extend employment offers to people who have been terminated from employment here previously.”
Like watching a trainwreck in slow motion, APD is. This is the epitome of narcissism–to return to police the community you’ve destroyed, to further traumatize Aurora’s communities of color, and to endanger the lives of fellow officers, just because you legally can, and narcissism doesn’t belong on the police force, in any town in America. If this guy is allowed back in contact with the general public, this won’t be the last we hear of him in the news.
Comments based on emotion don’t play well when permitted to be seen by others. There is absolutely zero “narcissism” involved. The decisions were based on a trial and a jury making a decision based on evidence presented at the trial. The decision to reinstate the officer is based on a decades old charter that was not written with “narcissism”. Aurora’s “communities of color are doing a fine job of traumatizing themselves without your pearl clutching and instigation.
Oh, communities of color are traumatizing themselves. I didn’t know that, old wise all-knowing Juan. How old are you, 20?) I’ll bet that’s also news to Elijah’s neighborhood. Let’s ask them who they fear the most now. Save your lecture about how/what to post on a public forum for somebody who cares what you think.
I should add that I lived in Elijah’s neighborhood when this happened and I moved because of it. I still won’t even drive through Aurora. If you’re so confident in your opinions Juan, how ’bout you post them on a sign and stand at Colfax and Billings holding it? Let that neighborhood know that they’re traumatizing themselves and if they object to a police force who stops and murders an innocent man (while real crimes are happening there that they claim they don’t have time to address) they’re just being “emotional”. Go ahead. Let us know how it goes.
but? he was accquited of all charges. Doesn’t that count?
A jury of his peers have deemed him not guilty. I also remember a couple District Attorneys that also said this case never should have seen the inside of a court room. If it wasn’t for the political intervention of AG Weiser, Woodyard would have continuously been working, like Aurora citizens desperately needed him to be.
That being said, I would question his mental soundness for even wanting to return. The administration that allowed him to be chewed apart by the vocal minority, is still mostly intact and will surely not bat an eye in doing it again.
The smart cops have left (300+ since 2019 per previous sentinel article) and I would bet there is probably a good reason for the exodus. Woodyard would be wise to take a vacation while his attorney worked on getting his back pay and more, settled. Heaven knows the City is quick to cut a check for people that don’t deserve it, shouldn’t be a problem for times when it is justified.
Very perceptive.
So the fact : “who Woodyard placed in a chokehold” which led to the death of said individual is considered by you to be ‘ok’?
Yes, said the jury.
yes justin, the reason the “smart cops” have left the department is they don’t want to be held accountable to the public to whom they have the privilege to serve!!
They don’t want to be held accountable to an uninformed mob that bases its decisions on what the popular narrative is today instead of facts. They realize that their bosses will not stand up and even offer an explanation for their actions if it is at all controversial. The public should be able to see all of the video and evidence in any arrest or contact. However, the police should be able to educate the public about the realities of police work. No matter what the investigations show, cases where no racism was ever present are still being used as examples of police racism.
Knowing many of the officers who have left, I can tell you that that many officers are not leaving simply because they were bad officers who were afraid that they would be held accountable for misconduct. They simply realize that it is now too dangerous to be an officer who may be prosecuted based upon an uninformed emotional response without regard for the facts. The chiefs are not going to stand up in the defense of their officers unless it appears to be to their political advantage. It doesn’t sound like Chief Acevedo believes that the officer deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt, even though he was cleared by the department and the DA of any wrongdoing initially and has now been cleared by a jury. The Chief is safe by sitting on the fence and voicing ambiguous statements.
Justice is entirely subjective these days. The personal bias of the one evaluating the justice takes precedence over facts now. In an era of gender being based on “identity” rather than biology, few are rational in evaluating what justice is.
The officer will have a hard time patrolling the same streets where he killed a a citizen he swore to protect. Trust me. The people of that city will not let him forget. The arrogance of this will not be forgotten. Another legal murder for the city’s finest killers.
I don’t care what this Adams County Court says. I don’t care what any Colorado Court says, because it’s well known Colorado courts are some of the most corrupt in the country. God’s judgement is the only judgement I respect and Nathan Woodyard helped murder that young man. Nathan Woodyard will burn in hell if he doesn’t repent, and Coloradans, at some point, (hopefully soon) will face God’s judgement for their hypocrisy and their collaboration with and support of thugs like Woodyard, Roedema, Rosenblatt, etc. I just hope I live long enough to see it before I go home to be with the Lord. I pray I won’t remember a thing about Colorado when I’m in heaven.