This photo released by the Aurora Police Department, in Colorado, shows Officers Erica Marrero, from left, Jaron Jones and Kyle Dittrich. Jason Rosenblatt, one of three white officers who stopped Elijah McClain, has been fired over the photos showing colleagues reenacting the chokehold used before the Black man died in August 2019, according to documents from prosecutors. The officers shown in the photo have either been fired or have resigned, according to officials. (Aurora Police Department via AP)
  • Racial Injustice-Elijah McClain
  • Racial Injustice Elijah McClain
  • Racial Injustice Elijah McClain
  • APD Interim Chief Vanessa Wilson shows one of two photos of the three police officers mocking the death of Elijah McClain at the site of McClain's 2019 encounter with APD, during a July 3 press conference discussing the photos in questionPhoto by PHILIP

DENVER  | A lawsuit filed by a former Aurora police officer for his firing over a photo reenacting 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 Police Chief Vanessa Williams and City Manager Jim Twombly was dismissed last week. It alleged that former Aurora officer Jason Rosenblatt was denied his right to an independent review board before he was fired by 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.

 

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