Photo:Courtesy McClain Family
Courtesy McClain Family
A Colorado judge ruled Monday that five former Aurora police officers and paramedics involved in thewrongful 2019 deathof Elijah McClain can now face criminal cases.
“After reviewing the grand jury materials, the court finds, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the people and with all inferences in favor of the prosecution, there is sufficient evidence to establish probable cause for each of the counts listed in the grand jury indictment filed with the court on Sept. 1, 2022,” Judge Loew wrote.
Iris Halpern, McClain’s lawyer, said that criminal accountability had been the main goal for Elijah’s mother, Sheheen, since her son’s death.
Courtesy
In September 2021, the police officers and paramedics were indicted on multiple charges in the death of 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 faced 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.
The Aurora Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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In November 2021, a Colorado city settled a$15 million civil rights lawsuitover the case.
“There is no amount of money in the world that will make up for losing my son, but hopefully this sends a message to police everywhere that there are consequences for their actions,” McClain’s biological father, LaWayne Mosley, said in a statement shared with PEOPLE at the time. “I hope Elijah’s legacy is that police will think twice before killing another innocent person.”
source: people.com
