AURORA, CO - JUNE 27: People shut down I-225 in both directions as they demand justice for Elijah McClain on June 27, 2020 in Aurora, Colorado. On August 24, 2019 McClain was walking home when he was forcibly detained by three Aurora police officers and was injected with ketamine after officers requested assistance from the Aurora Fire Rescue. McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital that night and died six days later.
A Colorado grand jury has indicted three police officers and two paramedics involved in the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain.
McClain was a 23-year-old Black man who was stopped by police while walking home from a store, put in a carotid hold, and then injected with ketamine. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser made the announcement on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Per the outlet, Weiser announced that, “Two Aurora Police Department officers, a former officer, and two Aurora Fire Rescue Paramedics each face a count of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide as part of a 32-count indictment.”
Weiser added, “[The] two current officers also face assault charges and crimes of violence charges related to the assault. Two paramedics each face various assault charges including the use of a deadly weapon — ketamine — and face crimes of violence related to the assault charges.”
The two current officers Nathan Woodyard and Randy Roedema, former officer Jason Rosenblatt and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec were the officers and paramedics charged per The Denver Post.
“We’re here today because Elijah McClain is not here and he should be,” Weiser said per CNN. “When he died he was only 23 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him and his family and his friends must now go on and must live without him.”
On Wednesday, Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, said per The Denver Post, “It’s huge to know they’re indicted. But I know it’s not over. We still have to go to trial.”
The grand jury gave in their results from the investigation on Wednesday, almost exactly two years from the second anniversary of McClain’s death.
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