Rare conviction against paramedics: 2 found guilty in Elijah McClain's 2019 death

Two paramedics were convicted Friday in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died after he was stopped by Aurora, Colorado, police and injected with the powerful sedative ketamine by the emergency medical services workers.

Paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec with the Aurora Fire Department were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide after a weekslong trial.  The jury also found Cichuniec guilty on one of two second-degree assault charges. Cooper was found not guilty on the assault charges. The verdict in the final trial over McClain's death comes after two police officers were acquitted and one was convicted of charged related to the stop.

It is rare for police officers to be charged or convicted in on-duty killings, and experts previously told USA TODAY it is even rarer for paramedics to be criminally prosecuted in cases like this.

More:Paramedics who gave Elijah McClain ketamine face jury selection in 'unprecedented' trial

What happened to Elijah McClain?

McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was walking home from a store on Aug. 24, 2019 when he was stopped by police and violently restrained. He was not armed or accused of committing a crime, but a 911 caller reported a man who seemed “sketchy.”

Three officers quickly pinned McClain to the ground and placed him in a since-banned carotid artery chokehold.

Video played for jurors this month showed Cooper and Cichuniec told detectives McClain was actively resisting officers, which appears to contradict body camera footage of the encounter, and was suffering from a disputed condition known as "excited delirium," which is not recognized by many major medical groups and has been associated with racial bias against Black men. Cooper injected McClain with 500 milligrams of ketamine, which is more than the amount recommended for his weight, according to the indictment.

McClain died days later due to "complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint," according to an amended autopsy report released last year. His death gained increased attention following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and fueled national concern over the use of sedatives during police encounters.

In 2021, the city agreed to pay $15 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by McClain's parents.

Two police officers acquitted, one convicted in McClain's death

Aurora police officer Randy Roedema, 41, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault in McClain's case. He will be sentenced in January and could face punishment ranging from probation to prison time.

Two other officers, Jason Rosenblatt, 34, and Nathan Woodyard were found not guilty on all charges. Rosenblatt was fired from the police department in 2020 over a photo reenacting McClain's death. Woodyard, however, returned to the Aurora Police Department following his acquittal and will receive more than $212,000 in back pay, Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby said in a statement.

Woodyard will be on "restricted duty" as he is trained on changes made to the agency since he was suspended in 2021, according to Luby.

The city agreed to implement a number of reforms after a 2021 civil rights investigation into the Aurora police and fire departments found they violated state and federal law through racially biased policing, use of excessive force, failing to record community interactions and unlawfully administering ketamine. This month, the Colorado Police Officer Training and Standards board unanimously voted to remove excited delirium from the state training curriculum.

Contributing: The Associated Press