Grand Jury Indicts Police Officers and Paramedics in the Murder of Elijah McClain
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The Colorado Grand Jury charged with investigating the death of Elijah McClain came forward with a 32 count indictment against both the three police officers as well as the two paramedics Wednesday—all five were charged-with one count of manslaughter and one count of criminally negligent homicide.
The Colorado Sun: The indicted officers are Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema. Rosenblatt was fired from the Aurora Police Department last year after he responded “ha ha” to a text-messaged image of other officers reenacting a neck hold like the one police used on McClain. The indicted Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics are Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, a lieutenant.
Elijah’s mother, Sheneen McClain, learned of the charges Tuesday and said she is “grateful that my son is going to have his justice.”
“I’ve been crying just thinking about the process that it’s took after two years to get this report,” Sheneen said Wednesday morning. “I’m overwhelmed. I didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, honestly. I had no expectations, honestly.”
CNN: McClain’s final moments have previously been described in the form of police body-camera footage and a 157-page independent investigative report funded by the Aurora City Council.
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Relax,” an officer said at one point, “or I’m going to have to change this situation.”
McClain, who had earbuds in his ears, told the officers he was trying to stop his music so that he could listen to them. During the struggle, one officer said, “He just grabbed your gun, dude.” One officer told McClain that he will “bring my dog out and he’s going to bite you” if McClain kept “messing around.”
During the struggle, officers twice placed McClain in a carotid control hold, in which an officer uses their biceps and forearm to cut off blood flow to a subject’s brain, the indictment says. McClain briefly lost consciousness, the indictment states, but continued to struggle with officers after waking up.
They also put him in handcuffs and held him on the ground despite repeated pleas that he could not breathe, the document states.
Cooper and Cichuniec, Aurora Fire paramedics, then arrived at the scene and diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis that describes violent agitation. Neither paramedic checked his vital signs, talked to McClain or touched him before making the diagnosis, the indictment states.
They then injected McClain with a dose of the sedative drug ketamine based on an estimate that he was 200 pounds; he in fact weighed 143 pounds, according to the indictment.
“By the time he was placed on the gurney, Mr. McClain appeared unconscious, had no muscle tone, was limp, and had visible vomit coming from his nose and mouth,” the indictment says. “(Officer) Roedema said he heard Mr. McClain snoring, which can be a sign of a ketamine overdose.”
The paramedics found he had no pulse and was not breathing and performed CPR. He never regained consciousness and was declared brain-dead on August 27, the indictment states. His life support was then removed and he became an organ donor.
Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King wrote on Facebook: A grand jury in Colorado just indicted 3 police officers and 2 paramedics in the brutal murder of Elijah McClain. They were charged with 32 counts.
Elijah was not only unarmed and non-violent, he never even broke a law and should not have been touched by anyone in the first place.
Mourners visit a mural of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after an encounter with police officers, in Denver, Colorado. Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
Let me name their names too: The indictment is against Aurora police officers Nathan Woodyard and Randy Roedema, former Aurora police officer Jason Rosenblatt, Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec for their conduct on the night of Aug. 24, 2019 that resulted in the death of McClain.
