Statement on the Release of the Aurora Police Department Body Camera Footage in the Modern-Day Lynching of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

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Courtesy of the Colorado Sentinel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 09.15.2025

Statement on the Release of the Aurora Police Department Body Camera Footage in the Modern-Day Lynching of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

Aurora, CO — The release of the Aurora Police Department’s body camera footage does not bring clarity. It confirms what our spirits already knew. Officer Matthew Neely did not approach that accident scene with the intention to protect or preserve life. He approached with his weapon drawn, his mind made up, and his actions anchored in aggression.

In his final moments, Rajon Belt-Stubblefield spoke words that echo through generations of Black suffering in this country: “Don’t shoot me.” What followed was not any effort at de-escalation. Instead, Officer Neely chose violence in every decision he made. Rajon disarmed himself, posed no lethal threat, and yet was treated as an enemy rather than as a man who had just survived a collision. He was pushed, punched, and ultimately executed under the color of law.

Chief Todd Chamberlain previously claimed he would be providing the “facts.” With the release of this footage, it is clear his statements were designed to spin a narrative that dehumanized and criminalized Rajon while shielding an officer whose actions were reckless, unjustifiable, and fatally flawed. The truth is now undeniable: it was Rajon, not Officer Neely, who resisted escalation. It was Rajon, not the Aurora Police Department, who fought to survive an encounter stacked against him from the start.

This tragedy reflects the culture of the Aurora Police Department. Aurora’s police culture is not built to serve and protect. It is built to spin and control. And culture is a reflection of leadership. City Manager Jason Batchelor’s unilateral appointment of Todd Chamberlain, absent community voice, denied this city accountability. Today, Aurora reaps the consequences of decisions made in secrecy and sustained by silence.

The legal pursuit of justice in Aurora has now been activated. Attorneys Ben Crump, Milo Schwab, Mari Newman, and Barbara Clouse represent a relentless pursuit of truth that fortifies this community in its fight.

To the City of Aurora: you are being summoned by truth, by grief, and by justice. You are being called to confront what is inevitable. It is time to dismantle a culture of policing that has preyed upon the lives of Black men, women, and children for far too long. You cannot spin your way out of accountability. You cannot control your way out of justice. Aurora must face what is coming. Because the community, the courts, and history itself will demand it.

Rajon deserved life. His family deserves justice. And this city deserves better than the silence and complicity that has long passed for leadership.

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