CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story quoted attorney Mari Newman saying that police in Colorado shot someone every six minutes last year. She was apparently referring to a local news story that stated that police shot someone in Colorado every six days.
AURORA | The family of the Black man shot by Aurora police Aug. 30 during a traffic stop and their attorneys said they plan to pursue legal action to hold police accountable if the 18th Judicial District Attorney, Amy Padden, does not.
“We are here to say we’re not going to let you sweep this under the rug,” said well-known George Floyd family attorney Ben Crump, one of the attorneys representing the family of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield. “These extrajudicial killings of unarmed Black people are never going to be OK with us.”
Family members, civil rights attorneys and faith leaders gathered Friday to demand legal action in the police killing of Belt-Stubblefield, a 39-year-old Black man fatally shot by Aurora police in front of his 18-year-old son, Zion.
This Friday press conference came after the family viewed the body camera footage at the Aurora Police Department on Tuesday, and before the footage was released on Friday at 1 p.m.
“Policing in Aurora has been broken for many, many years,” Pastor Author Porter said.
Stubblefield’s wife, Tandra, stood with his son Zion, who, attorneys and police said, witnessed his father’s final moments after following his father in a separate car the day he died.
“He was unnecessarily, unjustifiably, and unconstitutionally executed right before his son’s face,” Crump said.
Tandra, who Crump said was dealing with a great deal of heartache, was able to get up and briefly talk about her husband before needing to step back into the embrace of her family and attorneys because she was sobbing so hard.
She said that she has known Rajon since they were 12 years old and he was her best friend.
Attorneys Crump, Milo Schwab, Harry Daniels, Mari Newman, and Brook Cluse said they stood with the Belt-Stubblefield family in a united front to demand justice for Rajon.
Schwab, who is acting as the family’s local co-counsel, said multiple videos show a starkly different account from the police Chief Todd Chamberlain’s initial “narrative.”
The footage depicts an officer punching Rajon after he turned his back, then firing three shots, including a fatal headshot, as Rajon was already injured from a recent car accident, Crump said.
“It was so unnecessary to execute him with a headshot,” Crump said. “We are not going to let them sweep this under the rug.”
Newman and Crump said that deaths like Rajon’s are tied to a broader pattern of excessive force and racial bias in Aurora policing, reminding the people in the crowd of the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young, unarmed Black man who was held and eventually killed after doing nothing wrong.
McClain’s death has been tied to years of state scrutiny and caused the City of Aurora Police and Fire to be placed under a Consent Decree imposed by the state attorney general after an investigation determined the department has for years exhibited “patterns and practices” of using excessive force against the public, especially people of color.
“This is a police department with a deep culture of racism, a deep culture of bias and a deep culture of using force instead of their words,” Schwab said. “Every summer, we’re here again, calling for change, only to be ignored. I’m tired. I’m damn tired of this.”
Newman said that many people think of Colorado as a mellow state, but it’s not, especially for Black families and Black men.
“Last year alone, police shot people every six days in Colorado,” Newman said. “If you are a Black man walking around in Colorado, you are in danger. And I’m sorry to say this, but Aurora is at the top of its class, and that is nothing to be proud of.”
Police Chief Todd Chamberlain met with local community groups Thursday, telling a variety of communities that finding ways to curb police violence is linked to police and the public.
Although the family stood with their extensive legal team, the lawyers said that they would not take legal action until they received the findings of the Critical Incident Response Team for the 18th Judicial District. They said they hope the DA gives Rajon the justice he deserves, but if not, then voters should have Padden removed by voting her out.
“Nobody is disposable. Nobody is better than anybody else,” Crump said. “What happened to Rajon was a crime.”
City and police officials were not immediately available to comment on the Friday press conference.
Well, duh. I say go for it. That way we get all the facts out in the open and come to a conclusion and maybe closure based on the facts.
Personally, I saw opportunities for the officer to use less then lethal means many times instead of forcing himself into a shooting scenario.
Maybe the officer should have apologized, begged for forgiveness or ran away. Better yet, let’s just forget enforcing all laws as it can really annoy some folks; particularly those who were never raised to show respect for the law or those in authority.
The officer definitely had the oppourtunity to employ less than lethal means. I recognize the lower suspect incapacitation success rates utilizing things like tasers, however, I would still give it a shot before shooting a man twice, then another in the head, whilst unarmed, before he is even given the chance to even surrender infront of his kid. You can respect law enforcement and simulteanously recognize when they screw up.
They don’t call it the ghetto lottery for nothing. Cha-ching!
1) Only racist vermin capitalize black.
2) The video shows him still trying to assault the cop after being shot twice, while yelling at his son to get the gun he threw.
Go watch the video. He threatened and attacked the police when he could have just complied. This guy deserved everything he got.
Only way to discourage this behavior is stop giving massive payouts to “victims” who caused their own demise
The author of this article, as well as the fact-check editor, as well as the headlines editor, all seem to be unaware that George Floyd was not shot at any point in the police encounter that lead to his demise. After the gallons of digital ink that has been spilled in the exhaustive analysis of Floyd’s death, this is a pretty embarrassing error not to be caught.