Paramedic found responsible in Elijah McClain’s death gets 5 years in prison

Peter Cichuniec, a Colorado paramedic, was sentenced to five years in prison for the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died of a ketamine overdose administered by paramedics.

Peter Cichuniec and a fellow paramedic were convicted in December of criminally negligent homicide for injecting McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative ultimately blamed for killing the 23-year-old massage therapist. Cichuniec also was convicted on a more serious charge of second-degree assault for giving a drug without consent or a legitimate medical purpose.

McClain’s death and others have raised questions about the use of ketamine to subdue struggling suspects, and the prosecution sent shock waves through the ranks of paramedics across the U.S.