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Saturday, Jun 27, 2020

After public pressure, did Colorado open a new investigation into the 2019 death of a 23 year-old Black man after he was stopped by police?

Maxwell Craig, Gigafact Foundry
yes

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed the state attorney general as a special prosecutor to investigate the August, 2019, death of Elijah McClain, a 23 year-old Black man who died after being stopped by police and placed in a chokehold while walking home from a convenience store.

The move followed public pressure on the local district attorney in Adams County to bring charges against the police involved. More than 3 million people had signed a petition asking for further action on the case. A short while before the governor intervened, the district attorney had explained that it was his role to base charges on investigations, not opinions, and that with the evidence he could not disprove the reasonableness of the police's actions.

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