Photo: Archive / KEREM YUCEL / AFP / Getty Images
A grand jury from Colorado indicted Three police officers and two paramedics involved in the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain , an African-American man aged 23 who was detained by Aurora police while walking home from a store, immobilized with the carotid restraint, a form of immobilization that presses on the carotid artery that carries blood to the brain, then injected with ketamine and died during arrest , Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Wednesday.
Aurora Police Officers Randy Roedema and Nathan Woodyard, Former Officer Jason Rosenblatt and Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence manslaughter as part of an indictment of 32 charges, according to CNN .
Also, Roedema and Rosenblatt were each charged with one count of assault and one count of violent crime , and Cooper and Cichuniec were each charged with three counts of assault and six counts of violent crime.
“We are here today because Elijah McClain is not here and it should be, ”Weiser said. “When he died he was only 23 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him and his family and friends must now move on and live without him. ”
The grand jury returned the results of the investigation on Thursday, nearly two years since McClain’s death .
The indictment stands in stark contrast to the prosecutors’ initial conclusions in the case.
In 2019, Adams County District Attorney Dave Young, refused to press criminal charges because he said prosecutors lacked evidence to show that officers caused McClain’s death or that their use of force was not justified.
They resumed the case after other violent deaths of African Americans by Police
The story of McClain’s death during a police arrest with excessive use of force gan or renewed attention, after the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the rise of the movement Black Lives Matter .
Driven for the protests in Aurora and a viral petition online, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced a new review of the case last year . Weiser was appointed special counsel and opened a grand jury investigation into the case in January.
Usually, Police officers rarely face criminal charges for deaths in custody of African Americans , and convictions in such cases are even rarer. In his press conference on Wednesday, Weiser acknowledged the challenge facing prosecutors.
Following city rules, officers and firefighters charged with felony crimes are immediately and indefinitely suspended without pay, said Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly, in a statement.
Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson and Fire Chief Fernando Gray offered their condolences to the family McClain and said they will cooperate with the judicial process.
A civil investigation is also underway into APD and AFD’s patterns and practices of civil rights violations, Weiser said.