City, state officials put spotlight on policing cases

A police chief in Arizona resigned, a New York City officer faces charges, and a 2019 case out of Colorado received new scrutiny. Local police departments and governments this week responded to accusations of police brutality with renewed transparency.

What happened in those communities? Police Chief Chris Magnus in Tucson, Ariz., offered to resign after the death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez became public. The mayor did not accept his resignation. On April 21, the 27-year-old died after police officers handcuffed and held him face down. Magnus said three officers involved resigned for violating department policy and acknowledged they didn’t disclose the death promptly. The New York City Police Department said Officer David Afanador, 39, was arrested on Thursday on charges of strangulation and attempted strangulation after using what appeared to be a chokehold last weekend. And Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said on Wednesday that his office was looking into 2019 the death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colo. The 23-year-old African American man died after a struggle with police, during which officers used a chokehold on him.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about the debate in Congress over police reform.

Editor’s note: WORLD has corrected this report to note that Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus offered to resign.