Colorado officer complicit in death of unarmed black man Elijah McClain convicted
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McClain, then a 23-year-old Black man from Aurora, Colorado, died six days after a violent police encounter, during which he was injected with ketamine by paramedics to sedate him.
One of the two Colorado officers, Randy Roedema, found complicit in the death of an unarmed black man, Elijah McClain in 2019, has been found guilty and convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
The second police officer, Jason Rosenblatt, facing the same charges was acquitted, including reckless manslaughter and assault, by the Jury on Thursday.
Sentencing has been set for January 5 at 1:30 p.m.
McClain, then a 23-year-old Black man from Aurora, Colorado, died six days after a violent police encounter, during which he was injected with ketamine by paramedics to sedate him.
On August 24, 2019, three Aurora Police officers confronted McClain after responding to a call by an Aurora civilian about an unarmed person wearing a ski mask that looked “sketchy”.
The three police officers who were involved in the incident, Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema, all said that their body cameras were knocked off during a struggle with McClain.
McClain was forcibly held to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back, after which Woodyard twice applied a choke hold. Upon arrival paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec administered ketamine, later determined to be in excess of a therapeutic dosage, to McClain to sedate him.
While on scene McClain went into cardiac arrest. Three days after arriving at the hospital, he was declared brain dead, and was removed from life support on August 30.
Body camera footage of the incident shows him pleading with officers that he did nothing wrong before they wrestle him to the ground and place him in a chokehold.
CNN reports that in closing arguments of the weekslong trial on Tuesday, prosecutors said Roedema and Rosenblatt used excessive force, failed to follow their training and misled paramedics about his health status.
The officers “chose force at every opportunity,” instead of trying to de-escalate the situation as they’re trained, prosecutor Duane Lyons told the court.
Roedema and Rosenblatt both pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter and assault in connection with McClain’s death. Rosenblatt was fired by the police department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended.
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