Jeremy Cooper, one of the two rescuers responsible for the death of young African-American Elijah McClain after injecting him with ketamine following his arrest in 2019, was sentenced to 14 months in prison under the partial detention system.
Under this hybrid system, Cooper will be allowed to work during the day but will have to return to prison in the evenings and on weekends, a Colorado court ruled. This sentence will be completed with a four-year suspended sentence.
Cooper and fellow paramedic Peter Cichonick were convicted of manslaughter in December.
The two paramedics were at the center of a case that has sparked controversy in recent years in the United States. In August 2019, McClain, 23, was arrested in Aurora, Colorado, with a metal collar around his neck and then forcibly injected with ketamine, a powerful painkiller. He died of a heart attack three days later.
His death attracted little attention at the time. But the killing of African-American George Floyd during his arrest by police in May 2020 raised a number of issues, including McClain's death.
During the trial, attorneys for the two paramedics said they were merely following procedures to inject McLean with ketamine. Prosecutors, however, rejected the defense's arguments and accused the two paramedics of failing to speak to the victim or check his vital signs before injecting him.
The use of the powerful painkiller by paramedics to sedate people against their will has sparked controversy in the United States and led to investigations in a number of states.
The prosecutor in the case said: "There was no indication that Elijah needed ketamine, and I have heard many experts say that administering this substance has no medical purpose."
She pointed out that "the defendants did nothing to obtain Elijah McClain's consent for treatment, and no reasonable person would consent to an overdose of a drug he did not need.
In January, the American judiciary sentenced one of the three officers involved in McClain's arrest to 14 months in prison. The other two officers were tried separately and acquitted.
On the day of the incident, police were called by someone who spoke of a "suspicious" black man wearing a ski mask and "acting strangely" on a street in Aurora. A police officer said McClain, who was not carrying a weapon, tried to grab his gun during the intervention.
The victim's family says McClain was just out to buy iced tea and usually wore a ski mask to keep from freezing because he suffered from anemia.
0 Comments