US paramedics found guilty in 2019 death of Black man Elijah McClain
Al Jazeera
McClain fell unconscious after police put him in a chokehold before paramedics injected him with powerful sedative.
Two paramedics in the western US state of Colorado have been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide for their role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after police roughly detained him, put him in a chokehold, before the medics injected him with a powerful sedative.
A jury handed down its verdicts on Friday against Jeremy Cooper, 49, and Peter Cichuniec, 51, and also found the latter guilty of assault in the second degree for the administration of a high dose of the sedative ketamine.
The death of 23-year-old McClain was the first among several recent criminal prosecutions against medical first responders to reach trial, potentially setting the bar for prosecutors for future cases.
It was also the last of three trials against police and paramedics charged in the death of McClain, whom officers stopped after a suspicious person complaint. The first trial ended with one police officer being found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and another acquitted. The second ended with a third officer being acquitted.
McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, wept outside the court on Friday as a supporter of the McClain family, MiDian Holmes, spoke with reporters on her behalf.
