Death of Elijah McClain After Being Placed in Choke Hold By Police and Ketamine Restraint By Paramedics

A September 21, 2023 article on EMS1 highlights the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a neck hold by police and injected by paramedics with a powerful sedative - ketamine.

The officers approached Mr. McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, as he walked home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019, carrying only his phone and a plastic bag with three cans of iced tea. A 911 caller had reported him as “sketchy.”

Officer Woodyard, who is set to go on trial later this year, was the first to approach McClain and was soon joined by Officer Roedema and Officer Rosenblatt.

Mr. McClain, using earbuds, initially kept walking when challenged by Officer Woodyard. Within 10 seconds, Officer Woodyard put his hands on McClain, turning him around. As McClain tried to escape his grip, Woodyard said, “Relax, or I’m going to have to change this situation.” The encounter quickly escalated, with officers taking Mr. McClain to the ground and putting him in a neck hold.

Mr. McClain lost consciousness at one point and the officers released the carotid control neck hold but at no time checked Mr. McClain’s pulse or breathing. 

Mr. McClain threw up repeatedly after the neck hold and was drowning in his own vomit. Officers Roedema and Rosenblatt ignored McClain’s pleas of “I can’t breathe” and failed to follow their own training. Police body camera video of the episode shows that when Mr. McClain is on the ground handcuffed, he's saying over and over and over again, ‘I can’t breathe. Please help me.’

When the two paramedics - Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec - from Aurora Fire Rescue (a non-transporting ALS first responder unit) arrived, they found Mr. McClain restrained and in handcuffs. Although the indictment alleges that the EMS crew was informed that a carotid control hold had been applied to Mr. McClain and that he previously lost consciousness, the two paramedic defendants deny having knowledge of the carotid (neck hold) maneuver.  The indictment alleges that the two paramedics stood near Mr. McClain but did not speak to him or ask him questions.

The indictment alleges that the two defendant paramedics watched the police officers forcibly push Mr. McClain to the ground, and that one paramedic told the police, “we’ll just leave him there until the ambulance gets here and we’ll just put him down on the gurney.” After about two minutes on scene, the paramedics concluded that Mr. McClain was suffering from excited delirium. It is alleged that this determination was made by talking to the police officers and observing Mr. McClain for approximately one minute.

The indictment states that one of the paramedics ordered ketamine from the ambulance that had since arrived on the scene. The medic estimated Mr. McClain’s weight to be 200 pounds and dosed the ketamine at 500 mg. The indictment alleges that the correct dosage of 5 mg/kg would have produced a dose of 453 mg of ketamine if the medic had been correct in his estimation of Mr. McClain’s weight. In fact, the indictment alleges that Mr. McClain actually weighed 143 pounds, an overestimation of 57 pounds, and that the correct dose of ketamine should have been closer to 325 mg. About two minutes after the ketamine administration, Mr. McClain was placed on the ambulance gurney, unconscious and limp, with visible vomit on his face.

Shortly after loading Mr. McClain into the ambulance, the paramedics determined that he had no pulse or respirations and administered CPR and epinephrine. Mr. McClain regained a pulse but was declared brain dead and died three days later.
 
Numerous body camera clips of the events surrounding Mr. McClain's death were presented in court, including one in which McClain spoke his last words as Officer Roedema jerked his arm up, popping a joint. “Please help me," McClain is heard saying. “Please help me.”

Mr. McClain, who weighed 143 pounds (64 kilograms), overdosed because he received a higher dose than recommended for someone of his size, pathologist Stephen Cina found. Cina said he couldn’t rule out whether the stress of being held down by the officers may have contributed to McClain’s death.

A Colorado grand jury handed down indictments in the case surrounding the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, who died after an interaction with police and EMS in Aurora, Colorado.  The 24-page indictment charges the police officers and paramedics with 10 counts each of crimes including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, and a range of other criminal charges.


Source: (https://www.ems1.com/ketamine/articles/attorneys-shift-death-of-elijah-mcclain-onto-colo-paramedics-as-officers-trial-begins-ad4D0py4dhDedZlc/)