DenverAP —
A Colorado court reversed homicide convictions against two paramedics on Thursday in the ketamine overdose death of Elijah McClain after the Black man was pinned down by police.
The appeals court ordered new trials for Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec. McClain, 23, had been forcibly restrained by police, who stopped him in response to a suspicious person complaint as the massage therapist walked home from a convenience store in 2019.
McClain’s final words — “I can’t breathe” — foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later in Minneapolis.
A jury in 2023 found Cooper and Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide following a weekslong trial in state district court. The jurors also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree felony assault.
