Two Colorado paramedics were convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young unarmed Black man whose case drew national attention and forced public safety reforms in the city where he lived and died.
A mostly white jury found the paramedics, Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper, guilty of a more serious charge they faced. But the jury split on two lesser assault charges: They cleared Mr. Cooper of both assault charges, but convicted Mr. Cichuniec of one of those charges, second-degree assault for the unlawful administration of drugs.
The men had injected Mr. McClain with the powerful sedative ketamine while he was in police custody in Aurora, Colo., which doctors said left him near death. He died days later in the hospital.
The trial was a rare prosecution of paramedics, and raised the question of the role that medical personnel play in police encounters and whether they could be held criminally responsible for their actions.
Not to mention they never did an evaluation, they never checked vital signs, they didn’t do any attempt at administering this medication safely. They fucked up utterly and completely. So did the cops. So did the fucker that called 911. Society let this young man down every step of the way.
I’m out of the loop – what did the 911 caller do?
Called the cops bc he was wearing a ski mask and therefore looked suspicious
Damn. Especially if it was cold out at the time, then that’s inexcusable. But even if it wasn’t, there are reasons to wear a ski mask that don’t involve breaking the law, so calling the cops for that seems stupid if that was their only reason for making the call.
Made a phone call that got a completely innocent person killed.