2 Years After Elijah McClain's Death, a Grand Jury Has Charged the Officers and Paramedics Involved

Elijah McClain.Photo: Family Photo

Three Denver police officers and two paramedics have been indicted on multiple charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold and injected with ketamine in a fatal encounter.

Officers Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were each charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Roedema and Rosenblatt were additionally charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of a crime of violence related to the assault charge. Cooper and Cichuniec each face three additional counts of second-degree assault.

Police were responding to a 911 call about a suspicious person when they stopped McClain on August 24, 2019 as he walked home from a grocery store. As the encounter escalated, Officer Woodward allegedly applied a chokehold on McClain, causing him to briefly lose consciousness.

On video, McClain can be heard stating that he couldn’t breathe, while the three officers allegedly held him on the ground. He vomited several times.

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None of the defendants have yet entered a plea. Their attorneys have not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

source: people.com