A former paramedic who injected Eliza McClain A man avoided jail with a powerful sedative and was sentenced to probation Friday following his murder conviction in the death of a Black man who helped spark the 2020 racial injustice protests.
jeremy cooper He faced up to three years in jail after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of manslaughter by criminal negligence. He gave a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who was forcibly restrained by police while the massage therapist was on her way home. denver suburbs In 2019.
The conviction is based on a series of trials that lasted seven months and resulted in the conviction of a police officer and two paramedics. Criminal charges against paramedics and emergency medical technicians involved in police custody cases are rare.
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Eliza McClain with ketamine before her death, sits in court for sentencing in Brighton, Colo., Friday, April 26, 2024. Cooper was convicted last year of manslaughter by criminal negligence in the death of the Black man, which helped spur the 2020 social justice protests. (ABC News One/Pool via AP)
The other paramedic and officer convicted in McClain’s death received more severe sentences than Cooper after pleading guilty to additional assault charges.
McClain’s mother told the judge before sentencing Friday that she blamed everyone there that night for McClain’s death, not just those who were convicted.
“Eternal shame to you all,” said Shannon McClain.
She said Cooper “did nothing” to help her son after he was stopped by police – not checking his pulse, not checking his breathing and not asking him how he was doing. of ketamine before injecting him with an overdose.
Experts say the convictions would have been unheard of before 2020, when the killing of George Floyd sparked a nationwide discussion over racist policing and deaths in police custody.
At least 94 people died after police stopped and administered sedatives from 2012 to 2021, according to findings by The Associated Press in collaboration with Frontline (PBS) and the Harvard Center for Investigative Journalism.
McClain’s name became a rallying cry in the 2020 protests over racial injustice in policing in the US.
“Without a criminal justice reckoning and the disproportionate rates at which people of color suffer from police use of force and violence, there is very little chance that this will lead to anything, any charges, let alone convictions.” ” Said. David Harris, law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and expert on racial profiling.
Harris said the acquittal of both officers after a weeklong trial was not surprising, as juries are often reluctant to second-guess the actions of police and other first responders.
“It’s still very difficult to convict,” he said.
During the hearing, Cooper said he regretted that he could not save McClain.
“I want you to know that I would do anything for a different outcome, Eliza,” Cooper said as if he was talking to McClane. “I never wanted anyone to hurt you.”
He further stated that he wished he had known more at the time, implying that he could have used that knowledge to help McClain.
Shannen McClain left the courtroom while Cooper spoke but later returned.
The judge presiding over the hearing on Friday sentenced former paramedic Peter Ciechuniak in March to five years in prison for manslaughter by criminal negligence and second-degree assault, the most serious of the charges faced by any of the defendants. This was the lowest punishment given under the law.
Earlier, Judge Mark Warner sentenced Officer Randy Roedema to 14 months in prison for criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor assault.
Prosecutors initially declined to pursue charges related to McClain’s death when the autopsy did not determine how he died. Democratic Governor Jared Polis ordered the investigation reopened in 2020.
The second autopsy said McClain died because he was injected with ketamine after being forcibly restrained.
As the killings of Floyd, McClain and others have shed light on deaths in police custody, many departments, paramedic units and those who train them have re-examined how they treat suspects. However, it may take years to gather enough evidence to show whether those efforts are working, said Candace McCoy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
When Cooper was driving home, he was stopped by police, after which he injected McClain with ketamine. Authorities later cited a report of a suspicious person. McClain was not armed, nor was he accused of breaking any laws.
Medical experts said that by the time he was given sedatives, McClain was already in a weakened state due to the forced restraints, which had left him temporarily unconscious.
On the way to the hospital he suffered a cardiac arrest and died three days later.
Cooper’s attorneys did not immediately respond to telephone messages and emails seeking comment on the sentencing.
Since McClain’s death, the Colorado Department of Health has told paramedics not to administer ketamine to people suspected of excited delirium, which a later retracted emergency physicians’ report described as manifesting symptoms including increased strength I went. A group of doctors have called it an unscientific definition rooted in racism.
The protests against McClain and Floyd also sparked a wave of state laws to curb the use of neck holds, known as carotid restraints, which cut off circulation, and chokeholds, which stop breathing. . At least 27 states, including Colorado, have passed some limits on the practices. Only two were banned before Floyd’s killing.
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Shaneen McClain told the AP ahead of Friday’s hearing that justice had not been served. He said that the two acquitted Aurora police officers, as well as other firefighters and police at the scene, were involved in his son’s murder.
“I’m waiting for everyone in heaven to hear their verdict,” she said. “Because I know Heaven won’t miss the mark.”
