Officers, paramedics charged in death of Elijah McClain

A grand jury has returned a 32-count indictment against officers and paramedics involved in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was put in a chokehold by Aurora police and injected with a sedative during an August 2019 arrest, Colorado's attorney general announced Wednesday. The charges include manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

McClain's death gained widespread attention last year amid a national reckoning on police brutality and racial injustice that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In June 2020, Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser launched an independent investigation into McClain's death, and in January announced a grand jury would determine whether the officers and paramedics involved should be charged. A local district attorney had in 2019 declined to file charges, citing inconclusive evidence surrounding how McClain died.