By Colleen Slevin, The Related Press
Closing arguments are scheduled Friday within the trial of a police officer charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent murder within the loss of life of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man stopped as he walked residence from the shop after somebody reported that he was suspicious.
Nathan Woodyard is the third police officer to be prosecuted in McClain’s 2019 loss of life within the Denver suburb of Aurora. Protests over the killing of George Floyd a yr later renewed curiosity within the case and led to requires first responders to be held chargeable for his loss of life.
The trial of two different law enforcement officials indicted in McClain’s loss of life resulted in a cut up verdict final month, with Jason Rosenblatt acquitted of all fees and Randy Roedema convicted of the least severe fees he confronted — criminally negligent murder and third-degree assault — which might result in a sentence of anyplace from probation to jail time.
Two paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec, who had been concerned with giving McClain a big dose of the sedative ketamine after he struggled with police, are scheduled to go on trial later this month. They’ve pleaded not responsible.
The coroner workplace’s post-mortem report, up to date in 2021, discovered that McClain died of an overdose of ketamine that was given after he was forcibly restrained by police. Whereas it discovered no proof that the police actions contributed to McClain’s loss of life, prosecutors offered their very own medical knowledgeable who mentioned there was a direct hyperlink. Dr. Roger Mitchell of Howard College, the previous Washington, D.C. coroner, mentioned the police restraint prompted a sequence of cascading well being issues, together with issue respiration and a buildup of acid in McClain’s physique.
Prosecutors have additionally argued that the police inspired paramedics to offer McClain ketamine by saying he had signs, like having elevated energy, which might be related to a controversial situation referred to as excited delirium that has been related to racial bias towards Black males.
In each trials, the protection sought to pin the blame on McClain’s loss of life on the paramedics. However whereas attorneys within the first trial advised McClain bore some accountability for his medical decline by battling police, Woodyard’s legal professionals, Megan Downing and Andrew Ho, have appeared extra sympathetic to him. As a substitute, they’ve confused that Woodyard, after placing McClain in a neck maintain early within the encounter, was not with McClain later as his situation deteriorated and different officers, together with Roedema and Rosenblatt, continued to restrain him.
Prosecutors have portrayed Woodyard’s actions as abandoning McClain and advised he was extra frightened about administrative considerations, resembling a potential investigation, fairly than how McClain was doing.
In contrast to the opposite officers, Woodyard additionally took the stand, testifying this week that he put McClain within the carotid management maintain as a result of he feared for his life after he heard McClain say, “I intend to take my energy again” and Roedema say, “He simply grabbed your gun, dude.”
Prosecutors say McClain by no means tried to seize an officer’s weapon, and it could possibly’t be seen in physique digital camera footage, which is shaky and darkish earlier than all of the cameras fall off through the ensuing battle. The protection has argued Woodyard needed to react to what he heard within the second.
Woodyard was the primary of three officers who approached McClain after a 17-year-old 911 caller mentioned McClain, who was carrying earbuds and listening to music, appeared “sketchy” and was waving his arm.
Prosecutors say Woodyard grabbed McClain inside eight seconds of getting out of his patrol automotive with out introducing himself or explaining why he wished to speak to McClain. McClain, seemingly caught off guard, tried to maintain strolling. The encounter shortly escalated.
