DENVER — A White police officer who is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain testified on Wednesday that he put the 23-year-old Black man in a neck hold because he feared for his life after another officer allegedly said McClain attempted to grab one of their guns.
Body camera footage, which shows part of the encounter unfold, appears in low light and shaky, and never showed McClain reach for a gun.
Prosecutors refuted the officers’ claim s, which attorneys for two officers previously on trial in the case also said in court.
More on the trial and Elijah McClain case.
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