DENVER — Elijah McClain's mother was among those in attendance Wednesday at the White House as President Joe Biden signed an executive order that calls for significant reforms to federal law enforcement agencies.
Not coincidentally, the signing came exactly two years after the death of George Floyd, who was killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
The executive order was aimed at reducing excessive force and misconduct by federal law enforcement officers. It included a national police registry for officers fired as a result of misconduct, a requirement that federal agencies to thoroughly investigate incidents involving use of deadly force, and a ban on chokeholds and carotid restraints by federal officers, unless deadly force is authorized.
"It doesn't bring back Elijah. It wouldn't have stopped the killer cops and their accomplices from killing Elijah," said Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain's mother.
In August of 2019, Aurora Police stopped Elijah McClain while he was walking down the street and placed him in a carotid hold. Paramedics then injected him with ketamine. McLain lost consciousness and died less than a week later. Three officers and two paramedics involved were charged in his death.
Sheneen McClain said the executive order is a step in the right direction but that executive orders are limited in nature and effectiveness.
"You can't do chokeholds, 'unless,' " she said. "That whole 'but and unless,' anytime you have that added it's never a good thing."
McClain said she remains deeply disappointed that Congress has yet to approve a police reform bill that would apply to all law enforcement agencies nationwide.
"The executive order is on the federal level, it's not on the state level," she said. "And Colorado has actually done more on the state level than the executive order would on the federal level."
Floyd's family was also in the audience at the White House as the president declared that “what we do in their memory matters.”
“I know progress can be slow and frustrating,” Biden said. “Today we’re acting. We’re showing that speaking out matters. Being engaged matters. That the work of our time, healing the soul of this nation, is ongoing and unfinished and requires all of us never to give up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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