By Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown
Associated Press
BRIGHTON, Colo. 鈥� 鈥渄id nothing鈥� to help an ailing Elijah McClain as he lay on the ground, a Colorado prosecutor said Wednesday, and instead they overdosed him with a powerful sedative that killed the 23-year-old Black man after officers forcibly restrained him as he walked home from a convenience store.
Defense attorneys, however, sought to shift blame to the officers during opening statements in the final jury trial over McClain鈥檚 2019 death in a Denver suburb. One said there was not much the paramedics could do as police pinned down McClain, with a sergeant at one point stepping on McClain鈥檚 legs and another officer slamming him to the ground.
The trial is expected to last weeks and explore largely uncharted legal territory because it is rare for medical first responders to face criminal charges.
[EARLIER: Elijah McClain鈥檚 death trial puts attention on Colo. paramedics]
Initially, no one was charged because the coroner鈥檚 office could not determine exactly how McClain died. Social justice protests following drew renewed attention to McClain鈥檚 case, and a grand jury indicted the paramedics and three officers in 2021.
The officers already have gone to trial and one who administered a neck hold on McClain and another who is back at work for the Aurora Police Department. The third officer was and third-degree assault.
Aurora Fire Department paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and several counts each of assault.
Colorado Solictor General Shannon Stevenson told jurors that McClain was their patient but Cooper and Cichuniec did not give him any medical treatment, never opening their medical equipment bag or touching him. Instead, she said that as McClain was held by police facedown on the ground, not speaking and barely moving, they injected him with the maximum authorized dose of a powerful sedative that he did not need and that was too much for someone his weight, which was 140 pounds (64 kilograms)
鈥淗e would have been better off if they had never come,鈥� said Stevenson, who said the paramedics did not need police permission to treat McClain.
Cooper鈥檚 attorney Shana Beggan said the paramedics decided to use the based on the officers鈥� description of McClain, such as resisting their 鈥減ain compliance鈥� techniques and having superhuman strength. She said those are both signs of 鈥渆xcited delirium,鈥� a disputed condition that Beggan said the paramedics鈥� training tells them requires ketamine to be administered. Critics say the condition has been used to justify excessive force and some doctor鈥檚 groups .
[RELATED: American College of Emergency Physicians withdraws position on excited delirium]
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not being told that Elijah said, 鈥業鈥檓 just going home.鈥� They were never told that Elijah said he couldn鈥檛 breathe,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ho鈥檚 in control of the scene? It鈥檚 law enforcement. They鈥檙e in control the entire time.鈥�
Once McClain was put on a stretcher and his handcuffs removed, Cooper started directing his fellow medics about how to treat McClain, she said.
Cichuniec鈥檚 lawyer, Michael Lowe, said the paramedics鈥� training required that they put McClain in soft restraints on the gurney before monitoring his condition.
In the ambulance, McClain, a massage therapist known for his gentle nature, went into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead three days later.
The amended coroner鈥檚 report in 2021 found McClain died from 鈥渃omplications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.鈥� Prosecution experts who testified during the earlier trials did not all agree on the role the police鈥檚 actions played in McClain鈥檚 death but all said that the ketamine was the main cause.
McClain鈥檚 death brought increased scrutiny to how police and paramedics use ketamine. It is often used at the behest of police if they believe suspects are out of control.
The on Aug. 24, 2019, began when a 911 caller reported that the man looked 鈥渟ketchy鈥� as he walked down the street wearing a ski mask and raising his hands in the air.
McClain, who was often cold, was walking home from a convenience store, listening to music.
Moments later, and after a struggle in which they initially failed to put him in a neck hold, they eventually were able to. He was rendered briefly unconscious, prompting police to call for paramedics while officers .
The convicted officer, Randy Roedema, faces anywhere from probation to prison time when he is sentenced next month.
Officer Nathan Woodyard, who was acquitted, has returned to work on restricted duty as he gets caught up on changes made at the agency since his 2021 suspension. They include after a state attorney general鈥檚 office investigation launched amid outrage over McClain鈥檚 death found a pattern of racially biased policing and excessive force in Aurora.
Woodyard will get $212,546 in back pay.
The other acquitted officer, Jason Rosenblatt, in 2020 for his reaction to a photo reenacting a neck hold like the one used on McClain. When officers sent the photo to him, he responded 鈥渉a ha.鈥�