Aurora Police Department

The city's Civil Service Commission denied the appeals of three officers who were connected to photos that imitated chokeholds where the black man's violent arrest led to his death.

"What happened to the innocent occupants is unacceptable and preventable, but that alone is an insufficient basis to affix criminal culpability," the district attorney's office said on Friday.

Gov. Jared Polis said the 23-year-old's death in Aurora police custody is a "truly exceptional case where widely reported facts are not addressed in any current investigation."