Sheneen McClain, right, is consoled by her friend, Midian Holmes, outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center, after a verdict was rendered in the killing of her son Elijah McClain, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Sheneen McClain, center, is flanked by Omar Montgomery, left, president of the Aurora NAACP, and Midian Holmes outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center after verdicts were rendered, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted in the 2019 killing of McClain’s son Elijah McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
FILE – A demonstrator carries an image of Elijah McClain during a rally and march, June 27, 2020, in Aurora, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) 
Jeremy Cooper and his wife make their way to the courtroom after a lunch break, Dec. 1, 2023, at the Adams County Courthouse. Cooper was indicted by a Colorado state grand jury in 2021 in relation to the death of Elijah McClain. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Sheneen McClain, right, is consoled by Omar Montgomery, president of the Aurora NAACP, as Midian Holmes, a friend of McClain, speaks outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center, after a verdict was rendered in the killing of her son Elijah McClain, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
A tear runs down the cheek of Sheneen McClain outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center, after a verdict was rendered in the killing of her son Elijah McClain, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
A tear runs down the cheek of Sheneen McClain as she is consoled by Omar Montgomery, president of the Aurora NAACP, outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center, after a verdict was rendered in the killing of her son Elijah McClain, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, left, speaks outside the Adams County Colo., Justice Center, after a verdict was rendered in the killing of Elijah McClain, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Two paramedics were convicted Friday in the 2019 killing of McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Peter Cichuniec and his wife make their way to the courtroom after a lunch break, Dec. 1, 2023, at the Adams County Courthouse. Cichuniec was indicted by a Colorado state grand jury in 2021 in relation to the death of Elijah McClain. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Paramedics Jeremy Cooper, third from right, and Peter Cichuniec, back left, enter the Adams County, Colo., Justice Center, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. The two paramedics were convicted Friday in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, who they injected with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put him in a neck hold. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
FILE – Paramedics Jeremy Cooper, left, and Peter Cichuniec, right, attend an arraignment at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton, Colo., on Jan. 20, 2023. Opening statements are scheduled Wednesday, Nov. 29, in the third and final trial over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died after he was stopped by police in suburban Denver. Jurors will have to decide if the two paramedics committed a crime when they gave the 23-year-old Black man an overdose of the sedative ketamine after he was forcibly restrained by officers in Aurora. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, File) 
Paramedic Jeremy Cooper, left, enters the Adams County, Colo., Justice Center, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. A Colorado prosecutor says the two paramedics failed to properly care for Elijah McClain when they overdosed the Black man with a sedative that he didn’t need. McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, died after being stopped and forcibly restrained by police officers and then injected with ketamine in 2019 in the Denver suburb of Aurora. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
AURORA | Two Aurora paramedics were convicted Friday for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine to Elijah McClain in 2019 — a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country.
It was the last of three trials against police and paramedics charged in the death of McClain, whom officers stopped following a suspicious person complaint. He was injected with the sedative after being forcibly restrained. The case received little media attention outside Aurora until protests boiled over in 2020.
Paramedic Peter Cichuniec was additionally found guilty of second-degree assault involving the unlawful administration of drugs and cleared of a charge of second-degree assault with the intent to cause bodily injury and causing serious bodily injury. Cichuniec’s co-defendant and fellow paramedic, Jeremy Cooper, was cleared of both assault charges.
State prosecutors had told jurors that the two paramedics failed to properly care for McClain when they overdosed the Black man with a sedative that he didn’t need, leading to his death following a 2019 police encounter.
Cooper and Cichuniec were being tried for manslaughter, criminally-negligent homicide and assault. The case has explored largely uncharted legal territory because experts say it is rare for medical first responders to face criminal charges.
The verdict was announced after two days of deliberations and almost three weeks of testimony, and after an impasse. Jurors told the judge Friday afternoon they were stuck on one of the charges, the judge told them to keep trying to reach a verdict. The jury came back with verdicts at about 6 p.m.
Three officers from Aurora already have gone to trial over McClain’s death. Two were acquitted, including one who has since returned to work for the Aurora Police Department. The third officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.
McClain’s mother, Sheneen, raised her fist in the air following the verdict. “We did it! We did it! We did it!” she said as she walked away from the courthouse.
Cichuniec’s wife had her head bowed as deputies handcuffed him. Cooper’s wife sobbed alongside her.
Neither the paramedics nor their attorneys spoke outside court. They did not immediately respond to emails and telephone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The outcome could set a precedent for how emergency personnel respond to situations with people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.
“Imagine if you’re a paramedic,” Piquero said. “They could be hesitant. They could say, ‘I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I’m going to do less. I don’t want to be found guilty.'”
The International Association of Fire Fighters said in a statement that in pursuing the charges, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser had criminalized split-second medical decisions and set “a dangerous, chilling precedent for pre-hospital care.”
Weiser, who convened the grand jury that indicted the first responders, said he was satisfied with the verdict.
“We remain confident that bringing these cases forward was the right thing to do for justice for Elijah McClain and for healing in the Aurora community,” he said outside court.
The city of Aurora said Friday night that the two paramedics were fired following their convictions.
Aurora Fire Rescue chief Alec Oughton extended condolences to McClain’s family in a statement Friday but added that he was “deeply concerned and disappointed” in the outcome of the trial.
“While I appreciate the jury’s diligence, integrity and public service to ensure a fair trial, I am discouraged that these paramedics have received felony punishment for following their training and protocols in place at the time and for making discretionary decisions while taking split-second action in a dynamic environment,” Oughton wrote.
He also described steps that Aurora Fire Rescue has taken to promote accountability and prevent similar incidents, including re-establishing the department’s medical branch to oversee emergency medicine, updating protocols concerning dispatching, sedatives and command when multiple agencies are responding to a scene, and increasing community outreach.
Defense attorneys argued the paramedics followed their training in giving ketamine to McClain after deciding he had “excited delirium,” a disputed condition some say is unscientific and has been used to justify excessive force. They also have said prosecutors have not proven that the sedative is what killed him.
Paramedics in Aurora had been trained to use the drug for the condition in 2018. State officials have since told paramedics to stop using excited delirium as a basis for administering ketamine.
Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson told jurors during closing arguments the paramedics did not conduct basic medical checks of McClain such as taking his pulse before giving him the ketamine. The paramedics called to the scene incorrectly estimated his weight, giving him more than 1.5 times the dose he should have received, officials have said.
“There was no justification not to assess Mr. McClain. There was no justification to give someone who was not moving a sedative,” Stevenson said. “The defendants knew the risk of giving an overdose of ketamine.”
Stevenson said the paramedics ignored the risk the drug posed to slowing McClain’s breathing, leaving him lying on the ground unable to breathe freely and clear vomit from his body. As she spoke, McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, sat in the front row of the courtroom, dabbing her eyes with tissues as a supporter wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, had been forcibly restrained by police officers — including with a neck hold that rendered him temporarily unconscious — when he was stopped while walking home from a convenience store. He went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance a few minutes after the paramedics injected him with ketamine. He died three days later.
Cichuniec, who testified along with Cooper this week, said paramedics were trained that they had to work quickly to treat excited delirium with ketamine so that patients could be taken to the hospital for treatment. They were told numerous times in training that it was an effective drug and were not warned about the possibility of it killing anyone.
“We were taught that is a safe drug and it will not kill them,” he testified.
Cooper’s attorney told jurors Wednesday that there was no evidence the paramedics intended to hurt McClain. Attorney Mike Pellow said the paramedics had “tried desperately” to save McClain on the way to the hospital and that the case was criminalizing the conduct of first responders trying to comply with their training protocols.
The defense has also said there was not much the paramedics could do while police had McClain pinned down, with an officer slamming him to the ground at one point.
“What is Mr. Cooper supposed to do at that point? Say, ‘Hey, get the heck off my patient?’” Pellow asked.
Cichuniec attorney David Goddard said it was “entirely reasonable” for the paramedics to believe McClain was suffering from excited delirium and needed ketamine, based on seeing McClain being held down by three officers and police descriptions of his behavior.
“They’re told by police that Mr. McClain was demonstrating incredible strength, crazy strength,” Goddard said. “That information fits squarely within the signs and symptoms of excited delirium.”
No one was charged initially in McClain’s death because the coroner’s office could not determine how he died. But social justice protests over the 2020 murder of George Floyd drew renewed attention to McClain’s case — which led to the 2021 indictment of the police officers and paramedics.
The city of Aurora agreed in 2021 to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents.
Congratulations to the prosecution. You got the results you sought from this political prosecution. Shame on you for even taking this to trial appeasing a political agenda.
Those paramedics were doing their job that night following procedures in place at the time. Hind sight is always 20/20, and it has improved EMS procedures because of this tragedy, It still does not justify ruining these two first responders’ lives over being politically correct.
Thank you for this.
How sad that McClain did not simply comply, as I and everyone I know,ould.
McClaintentionally escalated the situation.
Comply now, complain later.
Take ito court if an injustice.
Hope that our paramedics receive Community Service.
How sad it is when we go on what is 2nd hand information. We were not there and only have the police and First Responder’s account. The victim is dead. They were posted celebrating the deed that resulted in a death of a person, regardless of his value to them or anyone else. These responders are human and they make calls, some good, some not so good, but take responsibility. In this case – They killed some one. The point is admitting right or wrong. These people chose the profession to help, not hurt. They chose to be fair and compassionate even to what they consider the lowest of the low. To protect and serve – and to do no harm. So, consider each victim, citizen or “person” as if he or she was your loved one.
Nowadays with dangerous state level political intervention we have a case of what ostensibly was medical malpractice at tops, twisted into a criminal one.
Hope these commenters in support of murdering an innocent person walking home – experience the same treatment with their child or loved one. This was NOT political it was JUSTICE!
You’re missing the point. We don’t know that the Ketamine is what killed them. What the police did could have solely been the reason he arrested. This is not justice, not even close. They let an angry mob decide they were guilty.
While a loss of life is unfortunate there is no responsibility placed by being uncooperative to the police. You can argue race- but society must have respect of law and order. As for front line responders guessing weigh is not alway easy.. foreseeing complications that come about with illegal drug is impossible. A large settlement and jail for dedicated selfless paramedics is wrong, ruining two lives that may have saved many in the future – to placate the loss of a man who’s future may have been drugs and jail? May justice and karma come to the real offenders in this sad picture.
Weiser, who has no criminal trial experience, made himself look more caring and improved his political standing at the expense of thousands of people in the future. Both the police and the paramedics now know that it is too dangerous to get involved. There have been many deaths of people who resisted the police in the past in cases where no extreme measures were used to control them. They usually had some drugs on board. The medical people could never tell us why they died. The term “excited delirium” was coined by the medical people to describe the symptoms exhibited by these people who often showed unusual strength. Now, because so many black suspects resist, it is a racist term that can’t be used. The
police still have to fight with people who exhibit the same symptoms but they can’t say that the person was unusually strong because that would be racist.
Suddenly, the doctors who told the paramedics that ketamine was safe keep quiet while other medical experts opine on why the suspect died. My doctors usually can’t tell me what is wrong with me. Suddenly, the doctors can tell exactly what went wrong with the suspect. The paramedics had to deal with an irrational person on the street under pressure. They have to do it all of the time. Most of the time, it amounts to nothing. But when they suddenly die, we can now see prosecutors seeking political clout who will seek out doctors to second guess the paramedics and the police. So, if you are a police officer or a paramedic, you cannot afford to touch anyone or be anywhere near when one of these people die. That means that no force can be used to enforce any law. That means that the paramedics should not risk taking any action. They should simply stick to very simple measures or move away quickly. Many people will die from the fear created by these political trials. But, Phil Weiser looks like he cares and will certainly look good in his future career.
In the George Floyd case, Floyd was saying that he couldn’t breathe before he was even pulled out of the car. It is doubtful that the officers killed him. Should Chauvin have been punished for the way he treated Floyd? Certainly. What he did was wrong. Did he actually kill Floyd. Doubtful. You should have to repeatedly fight with people who act that same way over and over. You would have a more accurate picture of what really happens on the street. Does that mean that you can completely disregard the persons cries? Absolutely not. You still have to restrain them as humanely as possible. But we must be realistic about the situation and who is causing the situation.
If you attack and wrestle an innocent man to the ground and kill him, you should go to prison, no matter who you are. These officers and paramedics are solely responsible for any chaos that ensues from these convictions, not the prosecutors, not the jury, not Elijah himself.
How could the paramedics have weighed a patient or taken his blood pressure while he was thrashing around in an ambulance?
Medical providers will inevitably make mistakes. Female lawyers who specialized in suing for malpractice in pregnancy cases found that doctors refused them as patients. Who can blame them?
If we want medical personnel to do their best we have to trust them. I was seriously injured 6 years ago in a car accident. I have been treated by upwards of 25 doctors and countless other providers. You know you are in trouble when the ambulance driver remembers your name from a previous trip. The funniest error happened in an ER where it is in my records that I (a male from birth) had a clitoris.
I don’t want to mention any of the more serious problems. For most part the medical people have all tried to help me in the face of rules which made it impossible. In one case a nurse who was giving me medication insisted that I approve each one by generic name. She obviously had been recently disciplined for failure to follow proceedures. I had a seizure in the hospital right after that. obviously I did not take the right meds.
The best ER I have been in gave me a used cannula when I needed oxygen. Pretty disgusting, right? The back story is that I came into the ER complaining that I needed oxygen and the only tank available had a used cannula. Should they have waited until I passed out before giving me oxygen?
The brain surgeon who saved my life left a deep gouge in my skull while doing so. The doctor who treated me for a disease that has a survival rate of 40% overdosed me destroying my ability to balance. Those doctors saved my life. I am incredibly grateful for the medical personnel who went the extra mile risking their careers. Thankyou all.
I am using a false name because I don’t want to risk their careers.
“split second decision”. Nope, they had plenty of time to assess him, and to ACCURATELY determine his weight. It’s not as if they rolled up on someone bleeding out or with no pulse. They chose to go in guns (or syringe in this case) blazing. And sometimes when you resort to ready, fire, aim, you end up shooting yourself. They may be correct that this may cause first responders to pause during treatment. That isn’t always a bad thing.
Cops and firefighters rely on and trust each other. This case will change that. Would would want to be a cop or firefighter now? The firefighters listened to the cops and did what they were trained to do. Now they’re felons.
My concern is that the police, trained by example to paint the least self-incriminating picture possible, gave the paramedics a slanted report. I was a medical responder at one time, and I also did patrol, years ago. From what I can see, there was no excuse for not doing a baseline assessment, before administering sedative, particularly because, after an altercation, unspent adrenaline is in the system, and it is physiological certainty that an adrenaline crash will occur. The layman knows the feeling when, after an extreme excitement, a drained feeling overcomes. They further should have remembered, untrained people tend to exaggerate what they see, and underreport what may put them in bad light. Even more, they should have known that, with an unknown patient, a reduced dose is recommended, particularly absent any immediate history of chemical intake. Those are the errors of the medics.
Now, that being said, heavier responsibility should have been laid on the police, for misreporting, and setting the stage for an approved intervention, in the wrong circumstances. The medics got set up, and those police should at least have been supplementary charged with false official report and complicity in the charge laid on the medics. The medics paid because the police got away, and somebody had to pay. A medic can’t pull you over and arrest you, and that is more likely than a medical emergency. I think the medics erred, but they based it on effective lies from the police. There should have been three police sentenced too.
It is tragic that Mr. McClain died.
He had a choice to answer questions and comply.
Officers were called to suspicious person call.They responded and contacted him as per procedures at the time.
Paramedics responded and provided care. Care that done per procedures in place at that time.
The procedures and techniques used were within policy and guidelines at the time of this incident.
There has been 4 years to armchair quarterback and use hindsight. To second guess every decision that was made. And to apply standards that were not in effect AT the time.
I would challenge anyone who has never worked on scene as a first responder to to try it sometime. It is not like a TV show, seconds seem like minutes, minutes seem much longer. Split second decisions need to be made.
Perhaps you should learn about trauma, how the body physiologically responds to fight or flight situations to have even a small idea of what happens in those situations.
I am a retired first responder, in the world as it is now I would not do CPR because if done correctly your ribs will break, and I do not wish to be sued.
And I agree the others who have posted it is not a profession that Law enforcement or paramedics will be comfortable in doing their jobs for fear of not only being sued but charged criminally for doing their jobs.It is just not worth it.
Holy crap, you racists that are defending these killers or the coward cops are absolute liars.
Elijah McClain did nothing wrong. He wasn’t even given a chance to comply as the cops slammed him to the ground as he was taking out his earphones.
His last words were:
I can’t breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That’s my house. I was just going home. I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! I don’t eat meat! But I don’t judge people, I don’t judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity, I’ll do it. You all are phenomenal. You are beautiful and I love you. Try to forgive me. I’m a mood Gemini. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ow, that really hurt! You are all very strong. Teamwork makes the dream work. [after vomiting] Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to do that. I just can’t breathe correctly.”
We all know what the end result will be. The people we trust to do the right thing when we call for help will now think again on their willingness to do much. The jury proved to these responders the citizens they help can’t be trusted in return. This cobbled up prosecution coming from outsourced lawyers, as the state AG office was incapable of doing their job. But, AG Phil Weiser you got your indictment and never were close or into any real life chaos that any in-the-trench guy/gal deals with. You never got you hands dirty or even close to it. Great-Job Phil, the harm you caused we will now pay dearly from now on.
This is a sad case of the flawed system killing an innocent person. No person deserves to have the blood flow choked off to the brain. The paramedics are never there for the benefit of the police. They are charged with caring for the person. They failed to do this even in the most basic way. Shameful. In the end, if Elijah had been a white person this would not have happened. Some Aurora Police have a long history of less than professional conduct to people of color. It is shameful that the paramedics failed in their duty to the patient they were charged with caring for and instead took direction from the police who are not in their chain of command. A tragedy that was preventable and unnecessary.
The police are in the direct chain of command for anyone attending to this sort of call. What exactly do you think the result of paramedics disagreeing with the police will be? At best the refusal of permission to intervene. At worst, arrest for obstruction of justice. The paramedics have no discretion in this situation.
They got what they deserved “convicted” for killing an innocent man !!!!
They got what they should have got!!! RIP Elijah.
It is tragic, and my heart goes out to Elijah and his family.
At the same time, my heart goes out to these FF/Medics that made what they thought was the right choice in the moment, only for the end result to be terribly wrong. I am a volunteer FF/(hopefully soon to be)EMT, and my biggest personal takeaway from this story is that I no longer want to exercise that license if/when I receive my card. I don’t want to make a mistake and cause someone harm, and I already beat myself up all the time for every mistake I make because something as simple as not getting a proper seal on a bag valve mask can be the difference between saving a life and losing one. But more importantly to me, I don’t want to cause my wife and daughters to lose everything just because I was sued and jailed for making a mistake while trying to do a service for my community.
I expect that there are others out there who feel the same way, and that communities around the country will feel the impact for it. Fewer emergency services personnel responding, longer waits for help, more pre-hospital deaths because EMS care was not received quickly or not received at all. All because one’s own freedom and livelihood (and that of their immediate family) is more important to any given individual than their desire to help their community, and rightly so.
The past cannot be changed, but protocols can be updated so that similar problems can hopefully be avoided in the future. We are always learning, whether by innovative ideas, considering different paths, or painful errors. We are always improving as a result. All of that grinds to a halt when it is no longer safe for us to serve our community. We are already in the midst of a nationwide crisis for emergency services personnel, both career and volunteer. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that this ruling is only going to make that worse, even if it is overturned on appeal.
Nobody can pay me enough to take on this responsibility now, not with the risk of going to jail for serving my community to the best of my ability. Not with the risk of putting my own family on the street for failing to help yours. I will stick with my day job, and if (god forbid) something ever happens where you need emergency services, I hope you can save yourself – because you may not have any other option.
All paramedics in Colorado should refuse to provide any treatment outside of a hospital setting. Will teach these pig-ignorant prosecutors a lesson very quickly. Watch the death rate skyrocket without paramedic intervention.