♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, demands for justice for elijah mcclain. walking home, and stopped by police. >> please respect the boundaries that i am speaking. >> uttering these haunting words. >> i can't breathe. >> now a national rallying cry, as public pressure grows. plus, how one teacher sparked a 3d movement, giving back to front line workers with the building blocks of hope. >> "nightline" starts right now with byron pitts. >> good evening.

thank you for joining us. tonight, growing outrage over the death of a young black man who went to a store for iced tea and never came home. dead after a confrontation with police. now, a new cry for racial justice. we caution you, some of the images are disturbing. here's deborah roberts. >> i don't think my anger will change. >> reporter: nearly a year ago, her 23-year-old son elijah died just days after police confronted him as we walked home from a convenience store. his family calls it excessive force. officials called it justified. elijah's case was closed. disappearing from headlines until now. >> to be clear, i'm not just

calling it assault. i'm calling it murder. >> reporter: in the wake filled to coast. even in elijah's home state of colorado. >> it hurts. everybody is screaming names, but i'm like, last year it would have made a big difference. >> the george floyd case was a game-chan game-change game-changer, opening up the door for all sorts of stuff with law enforcement. >> reporter: this weekend, demonstrations shut down a highway, and police used a pepper spray to break up a peacpeac peaceful vigil. >> he was always the introvert, always one to observe. >> no way, this is a party. >> reporter: he expressed

himself through art. >> he loved knowledge. he taught himself to play the violin. >> reporter: by last year, he was working as a massage therapist. he had plans to go to college. those who knew him described him as gentle. on august 24th, 2019, he went to a convenience store. you can see him wearing a ski mask. something his family says he did because he had anemia, which made him become cold easily. he didn't know that someone called 911 to report a suspicious person. >> he might be a good person or a bad person. >> were any weapons involved or mentioned? >> no. >> there was nothing about the 911 call that suggested an urgent and violent situation. they reported a black guy who was outside. he stopped by three

police officers. >> stop. stop. stop, i have a right to stop you, because you're being suspicious. >> reporter: the officers immediately grab elijah. >> i'm an introvert. please respect the boundaries that i'm speaking. >> no, we're going to talk to you. >> now, let go of me. >> reporter: within moments, two of the officers' body cameras fall off. the third captures a bit more before it falls off. >> there was absolutely no reason why the officers should have stopped him in the first place. they grabbed him, tackled him, and threw him into the ground. >> reporter: you hear him say three fateful words, words that have become a national rallying

cry. >> i can't breathe. >> just relax. >> i can't breathe. >> i can't breathe. this is the same thing that eric garner said, the same thing that george floyd would say. this refrain, i can't breathe, is not only a desperate cry for help, it's a kind of request to allow some form of mercy and humane treatment in the midst of what becomes a death sequence. >> reporter: the officers reported two sometimes they used a carotid restraint, commonly known as a choke hold. >> he's begging for his life. saying i'm a pacifist, i'm a vegetarian. i don't have guns. >> i don't judge people. >> it's absolutely heart-wrenching listening to it. >> reporter: the officers said elijah resisted contact, and they claim he reached for one of

the officers' guns. dave young is the district attorney covering the city of aurora. >> i have to look at the facts as a police officer's perspective. because i know the investigations. i know the tragedy of this death to mr. mcclain and his family. at the time, the officers knew nothing about mr. mcclain. they knew there was a 911 call, we need to investigate the suspicious person, and things escalated to what we all know happened. >> reporter: eventually, the officers all recover their fallen body cameras. >> that's fine. stop. >> oh, yeah, sorry. i wasn't trying to do that. i can't breathe correctly because -- >> reporter: the family says the lack of clear footage was intentional. >> you see an officer picking

the camera up, and he says, get that away from me, dude. so he's intentionally trying to stay off of the body camera. as they inflict multiple different kinds of force on elijah mcclain. >> reporter: when emts arrive, they dose the 140-pound elijah with ketamine, a powerful sedative. he had a heart attack in the ambulance, and was rushed to the hospital and put on life support. eventu eventually, doctors declared him brain dead. two days later, he was taken off life support. >> he's always going to be ne.er tot going tr forget. >> reporter: dave young was in charge of determining if any charges would be filed.

>> i don't condone the officers' actions out there. in fact, i wish they had done something differently. if someone says i can't breathe, do it, get off of him. but again, that, i have no indication, let to the cause of mr. mcclain's death. >> reporter: after three months, young issued his decision, clearing the offices of any wrongdoing. do you stand by your decision not to charge the officers?rs? >> yes, and it's unfortunate that people feel their opinions will change the facts and the law. >> reporter: do you feel the officers' actions led to his death? >> that i don't know. the burden of proof is upon me. if i can't prove to a jury of 12 that the actions caused his death, i can't file criminal charges. >> white men with weapons often

get arrested without any violence. james holmes, a white man, a mass murderer, was arrested without incident. somehow police manage to locate a level of discipline and care and patience with white suspects that they don't for black suspects. even ones that are unarmed. >> reporter: that's the issue that galvanized the nation. since george floyd's death, attention has been placed on older cases like elijah's. last thursday, colorado's governor appointed the attorney general as a special prosecutor to investigate elijah's death. >> public outcry matters. when people pay attention, institutions will respond differently. >> reporter: all three officers have been reassigned.

>> justice to me is conviction. they need to suffer. life in prison would be great for me. hon le hone honestly, they need to be convicted, because it was unjust. >> reporter: she realizes elijah has become more than just her son. he's become a symbol. >> they're going to keep saying his name, shout it louder everye day. the revolution is now. ain't no more waiting for it. coming up, how to ppe in 3d. teaching the lessons of hope during this pandemic. discretion for protection. try always discreet. the unique design features protective leakguards, which help prevent leaks where they happen most and an absorbent material that turns liquid into gel, for up to 100% leak free protection. the shapewear design provides a close and seamless fit, to ensure total discretion.

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♪ for some americans, a visit home before the pandemic has now become a monthslong one of our producers found himself in that situation, and he's finding new warriors

fighting covid-19. >> reporter: i've been living in new york city, but i was away visiting family when covid-19 hit. so now i'm sheltering in place in iowa, staying in the house where i grew up. there's still the yellow shag carpet, all the treasures from my childhood. it hasn't changed a bit since the day i left home, decades ago. we thought we heard the angels sing. in the sixth grade, my favorite teacher ever, mrs. kelly, read us this book. then organized this class project around it that was so incredible, it caught the attention of the national news media. >> we thought we heard the angels sing, about servicemen who ditched a plane in the south

pacific. >> reporter: mrs. kelly got us to write to the survivors and invite them to a reunion in iowa. >> i think they're very brave men. >> reporter: that was me before my voice changed. mrs. kelly went way above and beyond. >> you can't do this kind of thing without having a lot of teamwork. >> reporter: and touched countless lives. i was reminded of mrs. kelly when i heard about what this teacher is doing with his students. >> my name is jacob izzo. in my normal life, i'm a middle school choir teacher in new jersey. people say that they're called to do something. i know by far i'm called to definitely teach. >> all schools in the state will be closed beginning on wednesday. >> the thing that scared me,

seeing the news that there is a shortage of face shields for our responders. if they get sick, our entire effort to stop this when i bought my 3d printer, somebody printed off a really cool baby yoda. i got it for that purpose. then i got plans for printing the face shields. i was able to make the first 15, the doctor was like, yeah, we can use these. one of my sixth grade students was like, hey, i have a 3d printer. we talked shop about it. i was like, uh-huh. >> my name is jesse bush. i'm 12 years old. printing two of them, it pulled all the filament to the

printers. i'm waiting to bring it to my teacher's house. >> they print them and we assemble them. >> we basically create an assembly line in our house. >> we have a lot of fun doing it. we try to do it the fastest. >> i inspect each and every visor, then i count out the transparencies that act as the shield part. everything gets boxed up. then we get a crew out to pack it up and deliver, and it's done. >> we can really see that they're using what we're doing. >> for kids to be in quarantine, any child is suffering through this. to be able to see even from afar that other kids are helping do the same thing that you're doing, and it's something that is literally helping save lives, i think that kind of gives them a sort of boost. >> just really good to be a part of something and actually know

that it's helping people. >> and then it just started to snowball bigger and bigger. >> the number of people printing has exponentially grown. the number of people who are helping assemble has exponentially grown. >> it's an army of middle schoolers and community members that have delivered thousands of face shields. >> i've made over 200 face shields. >> i think it's taught jesse how you can just really make a difference just by doing something you love. >> to you, jake, and the 3d printer alliance. congratulations, and new jersey thanks you. >> reporter: when this is over, do you think you'll start manufacturing automobiles, like elon musk? >> this has provided to write and perform a different type of song. in some respects, this is my

favorite and best concert we've ever put on. it's something that is truthfully changing lives. but for me, the absolute dream is to be put out of business. i look forward to the day when i can just go back to my classroom, back to my kids, and go back to making music with them. >> what i would say to mr. izzo, i want to say the biggest thank you. >> i have so much respect for fr how much he's helped. >> reporter: i want you to meet my sixth grade teacher, mrs. kelly. >> thank you for doing what you do. and your students will remember this all their lives. and they will think of you, and how you taught them to care about other people. thank you so much. >> thank you. we'll be right back. . pepto® diarrhea is proven effective to treat symptoms, and it also targets the cause of diarrhea.

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♪ and finally tonight, a birthday salute. it's always a party in new orleans. and for andy washington, a u.s.

coast guard world war ii veteran, this party happened to be his 100th birthday bash. friends, family, and the whole community coming out to cheer him on. also the coast guard commander of the base in their city, celebrating one of their own. it was george burns who said, you can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old. that's "nightline" for this evening. we'll see you right back here tomorrow, same time. thanks for the company, america. good night. ♪ ♪ jimmy kimmel live >> this is ridiculous. from his house. >> jimmy: hi. i'm jimmy kimmel and welcome to the opposite of a spin class.

thank you for being with me, even if it's because you literally have nowhere else to