Denver suburb to pay $15 million to settle Elijah McClain lawsuit

The city of Aurora, Colorado has agreed to pay the parents of Elijah McClain $15 million.

In 2019, McClain was stopped on the street, where police put him in a neck hold and paramedics injected him with ketamine. He died shortly after. The police and paramedics involved were fired and charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. McClain’s mother filed a lawsuit in August 2020.

The city and McClain’s parents reached a settlement in July, but his parents were unhappy with the potential impact of its wording, as well as how the money would be divided. The attorney for Ms. McClain, Qusair Mohamedbhai, announced that after a mediation session, the settlement’s terms had been approved by a federal magistrate.

Sheneen McClain, the mother of Elijah McClain spoke outside of the court, expressing that she was glad to have the settlement finalized, but she missed her son more in the process of fighting for justice. “The money is just the world’s way of saying, ‘We’re sorry,’ but it’s not going to help me heal the hole in my heart,” she said.

Ms. McClain and the father of Elijah McClain, LaWayne Mosley, who was uninvolved in raising his son, have yet to reach an agreement on how to divide the money. “I hope Elijah’s legacy is that police will think twice before killing another innocent person,” Mosley said.