Prosecutors in Colorado say two Denver-area police officers ignored Elijah McClain’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe when they put the Black man in a neck hold
Officers Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt approached McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, as he walked home from a convenience store carrying only a plastic bag with three cans of ice tea and his phone. A 911 caller had reported him as suspicious.
Officials have determined the sedative ketamine played a key role in McClain’s death, which fueled renewed scrutiny about the use of the drug for people considered to be acting erratically and led Colorado’s health department limit when emergency workers can administer it. In 2020, neck holds by police were banned by the state’s Democratic-led Legislature.
But Roedema’s attorney, Reid Elkus, said the officers' actions were in line with police policies and their own training.He said McClain was stopped in a “high-crime” area, and that officers repeatedly told him to stop halt before he complied. “They don't want to hurt him,” Elkus said. In 2019, a local district attorney, Dave Young, called McClain’s death “tragic” but decided against prosecuting the officers largely because the coroner’s office could not determine exactly how McClain died., relying in part on information from a grand jury investigation. It found the cause of death was complications from ketamine after McClain, who weighed 140 pounds , overdosed because he received a higher dose than recommended for someone of his size, pathologist Stephen Cina found.
Police stopped McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, after a 911 caller reported a man who seemed “sketchy.” McClain, who was often cold, was wearing a ski mask and a jacket despite the warm weather.
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