Independent overseer finds appropriate investigation of Jor’Dell Richardson shooting, but problems with transparency

Colorado Public Radio: In June, an Aurora Police officer killed a 14-year-old boy who the officer and his colleagues saw running out of a liquor store with multiple other people, carrying merchandise from the store. The officers chased the teen, Jor’Dell Richardson, who was armed with a pellet gun made to look like a firearm, and Officer Roch Gruszeczka shot him. 

An internal investigation found this month that the officers acted consistently with their training, with the exception of relatively small violations about body camera usage and the use of a swear word during the chase. That followed the district attorney’s decision not to charge any of the officers criminally.

But Richardson’s death is also a benchmark for extensive reforms to policing that are underway in Aurora with oversight from the state. The reforms were mandated two years after Elijah McClain died from an encounter with police. (One officer has been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third degree assault in McClain’s death, and other public safety employees are on trial.)

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