Paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death avoids prison
- by St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Apr 26, 2024
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FILE - Paramedic Jeremy Cooper, left, enters the Adams County, Colo., Justice Center, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. The former Aurora Fire Department paramedic faces up to three years in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, April 26, 2024, for criminally negligent homicide in Elijah McClain's death.
David Zalubowski - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain's mother, is consoled by Omar Montgomery outside the Adams County, Colo., Justice Center, Dec. 22, 2023, in Brighton, Colo. Former Aurora Fire Department paramedic Jeremy Cooper faces up to three years in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, April 26, 2024, for criminally negligent homicide in Elijah McClain's death.
David Zalubowski - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death, sits in court for sentencing, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death, wipes his eyes as he sits in court for sentencing, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Elijah McClainâs mother, Sheneen McClain, speaks in court during the sentencing of former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected her son with ketamine before his death, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Elijah McClainâs mother, Sheneen McClain, wipes her eyes as she speaks in court during the sentencing of former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected her son with ketamine before his death, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death, sits in court for sentencing, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper, who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death, speaks in court during his sentencing, Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Brighton, Colo. Cooper was convicted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 social justice protests.
Uncredited - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS Cooper said during the hearing that he was sorry he couldnât save McClain.
âI want you to know that I would give anything to have a different outcome, Elijah," Cooper said as if he were talking to McClain. âI never, ever meant for anyone to hurt you.â
He added that he wished he knew more at the time, implying that he could have used that knowledge to help McClain.
Sheneen McClain walked out of the courtroom as Cooper was speaking but later returned.
Prosecutor Jason Slothouber had asked the judge to incarcerate Cooper and argued that the paramedic was âsingularly most responsibleâ for McClainâs death because Cooper gave him a âmassive overdoseâ of ketamine.
Cooper's attorney and wife and fellow firefighters urged the judge to show leniency. They described him saving people from fires, jumping into floodwaters to help an older woman and using CPR to try to save a child who died in a fire.
Cooper was not taken into custody after the hearing. He declined to comment as he walked out of the courthouse with his wife and supporters.
Judge Warner previously sentenced ex-paramedic Peter Cichuniec in March to five years in prison. He faced the most serious of the charges in the case. It was the shortest sentence allowed under the law.
Warner sentenced officer Randy Roedema to 14 months in jail for criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor assault.
Prosecutors initially declined to pursue charges related to McClain's death when an autopsy did not determine how he died. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered the investigation reopened in 2020.
The second autopsy said McClain died because he was injected with ketamine after being forcibly restrained.
Since the killings of Floyd, McClain and others put a spotlight on police custody deaths, many departments, paramedic units and those that train them have reexamined how they treat suspects.
Medical experts said by the time he received the sedative, McClain already was in a weakened state from forcible restraint that rendered him temporarily unconscious.
McClain was not armed, nor accused of breaking any laws. He went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died three days later.
The Colorado health department has since told paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having excited delirium, described in a since-withdrawn emergency physiciansâ report as manifesting symptoms including increased strength. A doctors group has called it an unscientific definition rooted in racism.
The protests over McClain and Floyd also ushered in a wave of state legislation to curb the use of neck holds. At least 27 states including Colorado have passed some limit on the practices. Only two had bans in place before Floyd was killed.
Sheneen McClain told the AP prior to Friday's hearing that justice had not been served. She said the two acquitted Aurora police officers, as well as other firefighters and police on the scene, were complicit in her sonâs killing.
âIâm waiting on heaven to hand down everybodyâs judgment," she said. âBecause I know heaven ainât gonna miss the mark.â
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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