Aurora OKs police raises on McClain anniversary
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Elijah McClain's legacy in Aurora is omnipresent. Photo: Rich Fury/Getty
Elijah McClain's 2019 death exposed systemic failures across Aurora's public-safety agencies, launching a reckoning the city continues to navigate.
Why it matters: Council members appeared to realize only at the last moment Monday night that they were about to approve police and firefighter raises exactly seven years — almost to the hour — after Aurora police stopped and restrained McClain during the encounter that led to his death.
The intrigue: Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs asked whether council could postpone the votes, but city officials advised against it, warning a delay could trigger legal challenges and bad-faith bargaining claims from the unions.
What they're saying: Council Member Gianina Horton, who backed the contracts, called the timing "a damn fucked-up oversight on our part" and apologized for missing the anniversary.
Driving the news: Council approved the fire contract 10-1 and the police contract 9-2. Council Member Alli Jackson opposed both.
- Coombs rejected the police contract and later said she "wish[ed] I had noticed that conflict ahead of time" and it was "obviously not the day" for the votes.
Zoom in: Council Member Amy Wiles, who's cited McClain's death in calls for police reform, wept and apologized for overlooking the anniversary.
- "It's no excuse," she said from the dais. Wiles voted for both contracts.
Follow the money: Patrol officers will get 3% raises in 2027 and 2028, while firefighter base pay will increase 3% next year and 4% in 2028.
- Top patrol pay will climb from $119,072 this year to $126,325 in 2028; top-grade firefighter pay will rise from $108,843 to $116,593.
Flashback: Aurora police stopped McClain, 23, as he walked home Aug. 24, 2019. He was forcibly restrained before paramedics injected him with 500 milligrams of ketamine.
- McClain never regained consciousness and died six days later.
Jurors convicted officer Randy Roedema and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec in 2023 of criminally negligent homicide in McClain's death.
- This June, an appeals court reversed the paramedics' homicide convictions and ordered new trials over faulty jury instructions. An assault conviction against Cichuniec remains.
Aurora paid $15 million in 2021 to settle a civil lawsuit in the case.
In the room: Mayor Mike Coffman invoked McClain before backing Monday's fire contract, calling his death a "terrible mistake."
- He added that firefighters deserved raises.