Elijah McClain deserves justice.
The 23-year-old Black man was killed in August 2019. When walking home from a store, McClain was stopped by Colorado police, put in a carotid hold, and then injected with ketamine. Earlier this year, it was reported that the officers of the Aurora police department had no legal basis for restraining McClain as he was walking home from the store.
McClain, 140 pounds, was given 500 milligrams of ketamine which is meant for someone who weighs 190 pounds. McClain went into cardiac arrest while on his way to the hospital, was later declared brain dead.
Two years after his killing, former Aurora PD officers Randy Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard and Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were indicted on charges manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide as part of a 32-count indictment, CNN reports. The article also points out In addition, “Roedema and Rosenblatt were each indicted on one count of assault and one count of a crime of violence, and Cooper and Cichuniec were each indicted on three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence.”
McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, told CNN she’s excited by the news of the indictments and thanked Weiser, his team, and the grand jury. She said, “I started crying because it’s been two years. It’s been a long journey, you know, and it’s overwhelming. I’m still processing it, you know, because this is one of those things that has never really been done and is being done right here because of my son, so it’s overwhelming.”
McClain’s father, LaWayne Mosely, said in a statement from his attorney, “Nothing will bring back my son, but I am thankful that his killers will finally be held accountable,” Mosely said in the statement.