BRIGHTON, Colo. (CN) — A Colorado judge on Friday sentenced a former firefighter to four years probation, including 14 months of work release, after a jury found him guilty of criminally negligent homicide for ordering that a fatal dose of ketamine be given to Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man stopped by law enforcement on his way home in 2019.
“The life of Elijah McClain mattered and matters,” 17th District Judge Mark Warner said. Warner has preceded over criminal trials for three police officers and two first responders who all played a role in the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in 2019.
Warner, who was appointed by Democratic Governor Bill Owens in 2005, compared the series of cases to the 2004 film "The Butterfly Effect."
"Instead of making things better, contact with the Aurora Police Department made things worse," Warner said.
On Aug. 24, 2019, McClain was heading to his home in the Denver suburb of Aurora when a passing teenager reported him to 911 as suspicious for wearing a ski mask and dancing down the sidewalk. Three police officers arrived within minutes.
When a startled McClain didn’t immediately follow orders to stop and “relax,” the officers handcuffed him, took him to the ground and engaged him in two constructive carotid holds, which made him vomit. Also known as a chokehold or sleeper hold, the maneuver cuts off blood flow to the brain, causing a person to black out.
Police are required to call emergency medical responders after using the carotid hold. That brought Aurora Fire Rescue lieutenant Jeremy Cooper and chief medic Peter Cichuniec to the scene.
Based on what officers told them — that McClain was out of control and on drugs — Cooper concluded McClain was suffering from excited delirium and called for 500 mg of the sedative ketamine.
McClain never regained consciousness and died several days later in a hospital. Investigators later confirmed McClain was unarmed and not on drugs.
Ahead of the sentencing, Cooper spoke before the court. He addressed his remarks not to Judge Warner but to Elijah McClain.
“I want you to know how sorry I was that I couldn’t save you,” Cooper said. Cooper said every loss as a firefighter has stayed with him and promised to never forget McClain.
Elijah’s mother, Sheneen McClain, walked out of the courtroom during Cooper’s address. She returned to remind Judge Warner that her son was dead and that none of the defendants had taken responsibility for their actions.
“Jeremy Cooper stood there like a drug dealer waiting to make a sale,” McClain said of the night her son died. “From my heart to my hand, long live Elijah McClain forever.”
Cooper's attorney, Shana Beggan of the firm Alonzi Pellow Beggan, asked the court for community service, suggesting Cooper clean up a park named after Elijah McClain.
Cooper is just the latest first responder to face a criminal trial over McClain's death.
Juries acquitted police officers Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard, while another jury found Randy Roedema guilty of negligent homicide. Warner sentenced him to 14 months in a county jail with a work-release program. Roedema appealed.
Warner also sentenced Cichuniec to five years in prison in March for criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault. Woodyard received backpay and returned to the Aurora Police Department earlier this year.
In a statement on Friday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, called Elijah's death a tragedy.
“There were many things that the officers and paramedics could have done the night of August 24, 2019 to prevent this deadly encounter," Weiser said. "We recognize important work around integrity in law enforcement and improving first responders remains to be done, and Elijah McClain’s memory will continue to inspire us to do that work.”
Internal investigations by the Aurora Police and Fire departments initially concluded no wrongdoing had occurred. Dave Young, then district attorney for Adams County, also investigated the incident and cleared the officers.
Following the George Floyd protests of 2020, Colorado activists began chanting McClain’s name at protests, prompting authorities to take a second look at the incident. The Aurora City Council then placed a moratorium on the use of ketamine by emergency personnel and ordered an independent investigation into the incident.
When the 17th Judicial District attorney's office declined to press charges, the state summoned a grand jury investigation and returned charges in September 2021. The grand jury investigation driving the prosecution remains sealed to the public.
Outside the courthouse after the hearing, Sheneen McClain briefly spoke with reporters.
“The only closure this brings is that this shit is over," she said. "I don’t have to sit in this well-constructed building and listen to their bullshit."
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