he unarmed, 23-year-old Black man died in police custody in Colorado

A Colorado jury on Friday found two paramedics guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed, 23-year-old Black man who was injected with ketamine after he was stopped by police.

Police in Aurora, a city just east of Denver, stopped McClain in 2019 on his way home from a convenience store.

Prosecutors said the two fire-department paramedics called to the scene by police, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, gave him too large a dose of ketamine, a sedative, for his size and didn’t properly monitor him afterward.

He went into cardiac arrest and died several days later.

The paramedics’ lawyers said the men followed protocol and gave McClain the amount of ketamine they were taught to give in training. Cooper and Cichuniec pleaded not guilty.



The jury also found Cichuniec guilty on an assault charge for the unlawful administration of drugs, while Cooper was acquitted. Both paramedics were acquitted on an assault charge for intent to cause bodily harm.

Prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in McClain’s death. As the case received renewed attention in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Colorado’s governor appointed a special prosecutor to reinvestigate McClain’s death.

A Colorado grand jury indicted three police officers and the two paramedics in 2021. One police officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in October. Two others were acquitted.

The verdict was announced after two days of deliberation. The jury was deadlocked earlier Friday and reached a decision after the judge asked them to keep trying.

Attorneys for the paramedics didn’t respond to a request for comment.

When police stopped McClain in August 2019, they were responding to a call regarding a man wearing a ski mask and behaving suspiciously.

McClain, a massage therapist who played the violin at rescue facilities for animals awaiting adoption, would get cold easily and wear a mask for comfort, according to his family.

During the encounter, officers placed McClain in a carotid hold, which reduces blood flow to the brain, and he temporarily lost consciousness. McClain said he couldn’t breathe and vomited in his mask, according to prosecutors.

When the paramedics arrived, McClain was in handcuffs. Cooper injected him with 500 milligrams of ketamine, while an appropriate dose for a person of McClain’s weight was about 325 mg, according to the indictment. McClain lost consciousness, stopped breathing and had no pulse in the ambulance. He later died in a hospital.



The two paramedics failed to follow protocols administering ketamine to McClain, according to the indictment. It cited a doctor saying the paramedics shouldn’t have given McClain ketamine. The paramedics didn’t ask McClain for consent before giving him ketamine, and they didn’t properly monitor him while he suffered medical complications, according to the indictment.

Cooper’s lawyer said there was no evidence the paramedics intended to hurt McClain, according to the Associated Press. He said they tried to save McClain on the way to the hospital. Cichuniec’s lawyer said it was reasonable for the paramedics to think McClain needed ketamine, the AP said.

While the original autopsy report was inconclusive in determining the cause of McClain’s death, an amended report that included more records found the amount of ketamine paramedics administered was more than the recommended amount for McClain’s weight, leading to an overdose.

The case received renewed attention in 2020 during a national reckoning on police conduct. Hundreds of thousands of people signed a petition calling for a new investigation into McClain’s death. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser reinvestigated the case and announced the indictments in 2021.

On Friday, Weiser said in a statement that he was satisfied with the jury’s verdict.

In June 2020, the Aurora Police Department barred the use of the carotid hold. Colorado’s health department later said emergency workers shouldn’t use ketamine for the diagnosis the paramedics cited in McClain’s case, “excited delirium syndrome,” or agitation, which has come under scrutiny for its potential for bias.

A 2021 report from the state attorney general’s office found the Aurora police department used force against and arrested people of color, particularly Black people, at disproportionately higher rates than for white people.

McClain’s family reached a $15 million settlement with the city of Aurora in October 2021.

Write to Jennifer Calfas at jennifer.calfas@wsj.com and Suryatapa Bhattacharya at Suryatapa.Bhattacharya@wsj.com

LINK: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/la...mcclain-death-fbadb3

I don’t get it. Was he resisting/fighting with the police? The story makes it sound like the deceased was a saint randomly attacked by police officers and drugged by paramedics.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
I don’t get it. Was he resisting/fighting with the police? The story makes it sound like the deceased was a saint randomly attacked by police officers and drugged by paramedics.

It is amazing isn’t it how one can shape a narrative by providing partial information? You don’t even have to tell a direct lie, just lie by omission and you can still get the job done.

My issue has to do with the administration of ketamine. Is Haldol not an option? I am thinking the paramedics were not properly trained in its administration.

In my ER days years ago, aggressive violent people were handcuffed by the cops and brought in for medical evaluation, and meds were administered accordingly. No such thing as paramedics administering stuff like this (sedatives, antipsychotics, anxiolytics...).

I haven’t reviewed the info since it happened, but I remember the damning thing being the paramedics did not properly monitor him after they administered the ketamine.

My question is how does the cop AND the paramedics get held criminally liable for the death. Two very different angles.

As an aside, I have long maintained that if ambulances had cameras on the interior, there would be more paramedics charged, by an order of magnitude, for deaths than cops. I’m frankly amazed it’s not a requirement yet.

I say that after a long time of doing both.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:

As an aside, I have long maintained that if ambulances had cameras on the interior, there would be more paramedics charged, by an order of magnitude, for deaths than cops. I’m frankly amazed it’s not a requirement yet...

Probably it's because of HIPAA, just like no cameras in patient exam room.

quote:

In my ER days years ago, aggressive violent people were handcuffed by the cops and brought in for medical evaluation, and meds were administered accordingly. No such thing as paramedics administering stuff like this (sedatives, antipsychotics, anxiolytics...)

^^^^^^^
Exactly, I did not know that things has changed so much.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
My issue has to do with the administration of ketamine. Is Haldol not an option? I am thinking the paramedics were not properly trained in its administration.

It all depends on what drugs are in the department's protocols for what can be given. Ketamine seems to be the new drug of choice for EMS. I cannot recall ever receiving a patient brought in by EMS who had received Haldol in the field.

Having been a paramedic in a previous life, I'm usually pretty protective of what these guys do in the field. But...these guys fucked up major. There was zero need to give this guy ketamine (and there's zero need for paramedics to be carrying ketamine to begin with), and they were clearly not trained/experienced in it's administration.

From the information provided (which is always dangerous these days) I think the charge here is a just one.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
There was zero need to give this guy ketamine (and there's zero need for paramedics to be carrying ketamine to begin with), and they were clearly not trained/experienced in it's administration.

Around here, it's within ALS protocols for "delerium with agitated behavior," acute pains (limited and specific criteria) and for "sedation-assisted intubation."

It also seems to have become the chemical restraint of choice.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
I don’t get it. Was he resisting/fighting with the police? The story makes it sound like the deceased was a saint randomly attacked by police officers and drugged by paramedics.

On one hand, I don't support murder.

On the other hand, I doubt this was just a simple "Israeli Kidnapping" and drugging of the decedent by authorities while he was on the way to play the violin at the animal shelter while wearing a ski mask. I'm thinking there were a few intervening events, but the media seems to not think this to be relevant, so...

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
There was zero need to give this guy ketamine (and there's zero need for paramedics to be carrying ketamine to begin with), and they were clearly not trained/experienced in it's administration.

Around here, it's within ALS protocols for "delerium with agitated behavior," acute pains (limited and specific criteria) and for "sedation-assisted intubation."

It also seems to have become the chemical restraint of choice.

Yeah, we have used Ketamine for a long time. I’ve never even heard of an issue with it.

Takes some reading to get to it, but one thing that got them was that Ketamine has a weight-based dosage. They estimated him at 220 lbs/100 kg and dosed accordingly. He weighed (at some point afterwards) 140lbs/63.5 kilograms. The amount of ketamine in his system was still called “a therapeutic dosage” by the medical examiner, but that’s the kind of “practicing medicine” that comes back to bite you in the ass. There aren’t flipping scales in the back of an ambulance.

quote:

On the other hand, I doubt this was just a simple "Israeli Kidnapping" and drugging of the decedent by authorities while he was on the way to play the violin at the animal shelter while wearing a ski mask. I'm thinking there were a few intervening events, but the media seems to not think this to be relevant, so...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The guy's crimes are not the issue here. I see a lot so agitated middle class folks that are agitated and aggressive. Just watch cops or YouTube videos. The issue is the use of ketamine and improper dosing.

Ketamine is a good drug for an induction agent and continued sedation for certain situations but I am not a big fan. The weight based issue, can be an issue as some medics cannot estimate a person's body weight and we are not "Carnies" so to speak but you must be able to foresee what will/can happen to a pt. when it is used for sedation of any sort. Respiratory compromise is a thing and if the pt. is sedated, pay attention and treat accordingly.

I am unsure exactly why both medics got in trouble, if one was driving the other was attending to pt. care. If the one medic was not paying attention with pt. care, fault is with him not the driver, in my opinion. I don't know the details so it is hard to Monday morning quarterback.

One thing that strikes me as odd is the statement that paramedics didn't ask if the pt. wanted the drug/ or have consent given. If a pt. is combative, you are not going to ask the pt. if he wants anything. You are going to treat/act on the side of the pt. and if that means sedation, you are going to give sedation. I wonder how far this can go for ems and how much damage lawsuits like these will cause medics to not give anything when the time comes. Like I said, I don't know the particulars and am only speculating.

The kid was stopped for walking while black. The whole incident is a disgrace. Read at your own disgust:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ng_of_Elijah_McClain

Stuff like this is a great way to ensure we will have a huge shortage of emt's and other critical law enforcement and emergency medical personnel going forward.

Sure, sue the city for damages and loss but to find them guilty of homicide in a case like this is racially motivated with out question.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
The kid was stopped for walking while black. The whole incident is a disgrace. Read at your own disgust:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ng_of_Elijah_McClain

Yeah, because Wikipedia isn’t political and there’s never anything else to the story. Trayvon Martin was just a kid buying Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea, Michael Brown had his hands up and said “don’t shoot,” George Floyd got crushed to death for passing a fake $20 bill, and this kid got stopped and killed for “walking while black.” Got any other narrative Kool Air to serve us?

McClain was already handcuffed. Can one of our LEO members explain why sedation was deemed necessary?

I have had a set of cuffs bent by a guy on PCP. To the point that they were unusable.

Depending on exactly what was going on, it may have been a way to bring him under control. In NYS we do not have that as a control method.