An Aurora police officer involved in the Elijah McClain photo incident resigns

Other police involved remain on the force.
1 min. read
Aurora Police officers make a line in the street as immigration activists march on the home of Johnny Choate, GEO Group’s lead of their contract immigration jail in Aurora. Sept. 19, 2019. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

An Aurora police officer involved in a photograph depicting officers near the site where Elijah McClain was rendered unconscious last fall has resigned, the department announced on Twitter on Thursday.

The department hired the officer, Jaron Jones, on Oct. 31, 2016.

McClain died last August after he was put in a chokehold by Aurora police officers and injected with ketamine while being apprehended. Protests calling for police accountability and an end to police violence that have waged across the U.S. brought renewed attention to McClain's case.

The department has released few details about the photograph, which prompted an internal affairs investigation. The officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave.

According to Brian Maass of CBS 4, who first reported this story, the officers in the photo were reenacting the chokehold police used to subdue McClain.

We've reached out to Aurora police for additional information.

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