AURORA, Colo. — The Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance is calling for Aurora Police to fire the officers involved in an incident this week that’s gained national attention. A family was forced to the ground and detained by officers with guns drawn after officers mistakenly thought the car they were driving was stolen.
Members of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance stood with families who say they’ve been profiled by police officers in Aurora and Denver.
After weeks of protests over the death of Elijah McClain, the call for change grew louder.
"We’re here today to say this is not only intolerable, it’s unacceptable," said Bishop Kevin Foreman with the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance. "We demand not just apologies. Apologies will not make up for what happened to these families."
Brittany Gilliam was forced to the ground by Aurora Police Officers along with her four children last Sunday. They had done nothing wrong when officers mistook their car for another vehicle out of state that was stolen. The department apologized and offered to pay for therapy.
"It was not only police brutality, it was injustice," said Gilliam. "All I hear at night is my kids' screams. 12 minutes of screaming. How do you shut that out? And you say therapy is going to help? These kids are going to need more than just a little bit of therapy."
Aurora Police says Chief Vanessa Wilson has met with the ministerial alliance and said in part in a statement that she “is committed to continue to work with them and other community leaders to rebuild trust between the Aurora Police Department and the community.”
The alliance says it wants change, starting with the officers involved in these incidents to be fired.
"Your answer is going to have to change," Rev. Dr. Thomas Mayes with the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance said. "Your solutions are going to have to change. And we are going to fight and stand here until it happens."
District Attorney George Brauchler is investigating whether officers should face criminal charges for handcuffing the family last weekend.
Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said she welcomes his investigation, and she's already ordered an internal affairs investigation of her own.
The ministerial alliance says it may soon call for a federal justice department investigation as well if they don't see change happening at the department.
The ministerial alliance also called for an investigation into an incident where 20-year-old Jayla Jackson says she was detained and handcuffed by Aurora Police officers while she was driving home on May 17.
"They dragged her and her step brothers out of the car, placed them head down on concrete, handcuffed them," said Jackson's mother, Angela Davis. "They were still handcuffed when I got there."
Davis says her daughter had committed no crime and police mistook her car for one that was involved in a shooting.
Aurora Police say Jackson was at a party where a shooting occurred.
"Because of the dangerous nature of this call a high-risk traffic stop was conducted and Ms. Jackson and the two other occupants were ordered out of the vehicle and placed in handcuffs," an Aurora Police spokesperson told 9NEWS. "When officers interviewed her she admitted that she was coming from her “brother's girlfriend’s house” and acknowledged that there had been a shooting. A supervisor stated in his report that she was uncooperative and refused to speak with officers about what had occurred. Once it was determined that Ms. Jackson and the other occupants of her vehicle were not suspects they were un-handcuffed and released."
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