The Denver suburb of Aurora has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the parents of Elijah McClain.
FILE - Demonstrators carry a giant placard during a rally and march over the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain outside the police department in Aurora, Colo., on June 27, 2020. The Denver suburb of Aurora has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the parents of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died after suburban Denver police stopped him on the street and put him in a neckhold two years ago, a family attorney said Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.
The settlement amount was agreed to in July but not officially disclosed until now because of a dispute between McClain’s parents about how the wording of the agreement could impact their dispute over how the money should be divided. Sheneen McClain said Elijah's father, LaWayne Mosley, was not involved in raising him. How the money will be divided will be addressed separately.
The size of the settlement was emblematic of the harm done to both McClain's mother and the community, Mohamedbhai said. “No amount of money can change what happened or erase the pain and heartbreak experienced by the family over his loss,” Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said in a news release. “This tragedy has greatly changed and shaped Aurora."