Aurora Police Department Re-Hires Officer Who Threatened To Unleash Dog On Elijah McClain During Fatal Stop
Jan. 26 2023, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
The police department in Aurora, Colorado, made a controversial decision to re-hire an officer who was involved in the fatal stop of Elijah McClain in 2019. The officer in question had threatened to unleash a police dog on McClain, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Matthew Green joined the team again on January 10 as a patrol officer after he voluntarily left the department in 2021, two years after McClain's tragic fatal encounter with Aurora officers.
McClain, 23, was described as a gentle soul who enjoyed music and animals. The self-taught violinist was known for using his lunch break to play the instrument for kittens at the local animal shelter.
On August 24, 2019, the 23-year-old was walking in Aurora when he was stopped by police after a call was made to emergency services to report an unarmed person who looked "sketchy." At the time, McClain, who was a Black man, was wearing a head covering due to a medical condition that caused poor circulation, particularly in colder weather.
He was also waving his arms around, which his loved ones said was likely him dancing as he listened to music on his walk. McClain was regarded as a pacifist who had no prior arrest or criminal charges.
The stop quickly escalated to violence, as officers tackled McClain to the ground, placed him in a chokehold, and arrested him.
During the arrest, Green arrived to assist officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt, and Randy Roedema, as a backup with the K9 unit. Bodycam footage captured officers as they forcefully struggled with McClain as he pleaded for them to stop hurting him.
"Dude, if you keep messing around, I'm gonna bring my dog out; he's gonna dog-bite you, you understand me? Keep messing around," Green was heard saying in the footage.
Following Green's remark, he replaced Officer Rosenblatt and held down McClain's legs.
After paramedics arrived on the scene, McClain was given a fatal dose of ketamine to sedate him, despite him already having been handcuffed
McClain went into cardiac arrest on the scene and was taken to a hospital, where he was declared brain dead three days later.
The self-taught violinist's original autopsy listed undetermined as his cause of death but was later amended to complications of ketamine administration after the incident brought nationwide attention and backlash to the police department.
"In my opinion, everyone that was there that night and did nothing to help my son stay alive are all accessories to my son's murder," Sheneen McClain, Elijah's heartbroken mother, told The Sentinel on Green's rehiring.
"He's an a------ for taking on the slave mentality of telling a person of color they're going to be attacked by a police dog," the mother added of Green.
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Green first joined the Aurora Police Department in 2009 and left voluntarily in July 2021, when he accepted a job for Douglas County law enforcement.
Prior to Green leaving APD in 2021, he was a member of the department's K9 Unit from 2017 to 2020.
In 2021, a Colorado grand jury charged first responders involved with McClain's fatal stop for felony manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide. Green was not an officer named in the indictment.
Officers Rosenblatt, Roedema and paramedia Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper are scheduled to appear for arraignments in court on January 27, 2023.
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