3 Police Officers and 2 Paramedics, Indicted for Manslaughter, in Death of Elijah McClain.
A Colorado grand jury has indicted
three police officers and two paramedics in the
death of 23-year-old Black man Elijah McClain. .
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced
the 32-count indictment on Sept. 1.
We're here today because Elijah McClain is
not here and he should be … When he died
he was only 23 years old. He had his whole
life ahead of him and his family and his friends
must now go on and must live without him, Phil Weiser, via CNN.
The formally accused officers are Randy Roedema,
Nathan Woodyard and former officer Jason Rosenblatt.
The paramedics are Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec.
Each of the five individuals have been indicted on charges
of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. .
Roedema and Rosenblatt have also been indicted
on counts of assault and crime of violence. .
Cooper and Cichuniec received additional indictments for
three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence. .
McClain was stopped and detained by police
in 2019 while walking home from the store.
After a brief interaction, during which one of the responding
officers told McClain they would “change the situation”
if he didn’t relax, McClain was wrestled to the ground.
An officer then placed McClain in a carotid hold,
causing him to briefly lose consciousness. .
He was then injected with ketamine, a powerful
anesthetic, by the responding paramedics.
Upon realizing McClain had no pulse and was
not breathing, the paramedics transported him to the
hospital, during which time he suffered a heart attack.
He was declared brain dead and
removed from life support three days later.