By Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown
Associated Press
BRIGHTON, Colo. 鈥� A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with a powerful sedative avoided prison and was sentenced to probation Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man鈥檚 death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests.
Jeremy Cooper had faced up to three years in prison after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of criminally negligent homicide. He administered a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after as the massage therapist was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019.
The sentencing caps a series of trials that stretched over seven months and resulted in the convictions of a police officer and two paramedics. Criminal charges against paramedics and emergency medical technicians involved in police custody cases are rare.
The other paramedic and the officer sentenced in McClain鈥檚 death received more severe punishments than Cooper after being convicted on additional charges of assault.
McClain鈥檚 mother told the judge prior to Friday鈥檚 sentencing that she blamed McClain鈥檚 death on everyone who was present that night, not just those who were convicted.
鈥淓ternal shame on all of you,鈥� Sheneen McClain said.
She said Cooper 鈥渄id nothing鈥� to help her son after he鈥檇 been restrained by police 鈥� didn鈥檛 check his pulse, didn鈥檛 check his breathing and didn鈥檛 ask him how he was doing 鈥� before injecting him with an overdose of ketamine.
Experts say the convictions would have been unheard of before 2020, when sparked a nationwide reckoning over racist policing and deaths in police custody.
At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by The Associated Press in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism.
McClain鈥檚 name became a rallying cry in that swept the U.S. in 2020.
鈥淲ithout the reckoning over criminal justice and how people of color suffer at much higher rates from police use of force and violence, it鈥檚 very unlikely that anything would have come of this, that there would have been any charges, let alone convictions,鈥� said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and expert on racial profiling.
Harris added that the two officers鈥� acquittals of the two officers following weekslong trials were unsurprising, since juries are often reluctant to second guess the actions of police and other first responders.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still very hard to convict,鈥� he said.
Cooper said during the hearing that he was sorry he couldn鈥檛 save McClain.
鈥淚 want you to know that I would give anything to have a different outcome, Elijah,鈥� Cooper said as if he were talking to McClain. 鈥淚 never, ever meant for anyone to hurt you.鈥�
He added that he wished he knew more at the time, implying that he could have used that knowledge to help McClain.
Sheneen McClain walked out of the courtroom as Cooper was speaking but later returned.
The judge who presided over the hearing Friday sentenced ex-paramedic Peter Cichuniec in March to five years in prison for criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, the most serious of the charges faced by any of the responders. It was the shortest sentence allowed under the law.
Previously, Judge Mark Warner sentenced officer Randy Roedema to 14 months in jail for criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor assault.
Prosecutors initially declined to pursue charges related to McClain鈥檚 death when an autopsy did not determine how he died. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered the investigation reopened in 2020.
The second autopsy said McClain died because he was injected with ketamine after being forcibly restrained.
Since the killings of Floyd, McClain and others put , many departments, paramedic units and those that train them have reexamined how they treat suspects. It could take years though to collect enough evidence to show if those efforts are working, said Candace McCoy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Cooper injected McClain with ketamine after police stopped him as he was walking home. Officers later referenced a suspicious person report. McClain was not armed, nor accused of breaking any laws.
Medical experts said by the time he received the sedative, McClain already was in a weakened state from forcible restraint that rendered him temporarily unconscious.
He went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died three days later.
Cooper鈥檚 attorneys did not immediately respond to telephone messages and emails seeking comment on the sentencing.
Since McClain鈥檚 death, the Colorado health department has told paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having , which had been described in a since-withdrawn emergency physicians鈥� report as manifesting symptoms including increased strength. A doctors group has called it an unscientific definition rooted in racism.
The protests over McClain and Floyd also ushered in a to curb the use of neck holds known as carotid restraints, which cut off circulation, and chokeholds, which cut off breathing. At least 27 states including Colorado have passed some limit on the practices. Only two had bans in place before Floyd was killed.
Sheneen McClain told the AP prior to Friday鈥檚 hearing that justice had not been served. She said the two acquitted Aurora police officers, as well as other firefighters and police on the scene, were complicit in her son鈥檚 killing.
鈥淚鈥檓 waiting on heaven to hand down everybody鈥檚 judgment,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause I know heaven ain鈥檛 gonna miss the mark.鈥�