A Colorado judge has sentenced a former paramedic to probation in the death of Elijah McClain.

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with a powerful sedative avoided prison and was sentenced to probation Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man’s death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests.

Jeremy Cooper had faced up to three years in prison after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of criminally negligent homicide. He administered a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped himas the massage therapist was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019.

  • NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.world
    45·
    7 months ago

    Link inside this article, at least 94 people have died from sedatives when restrained by police from 2012 to 2021.

    https://apnews.com/article/investigation-police-use-of-force-sedation-injections-demetrio-jackson-621909ba7491abc2af8ad2e33ba3415b

    Would be interesting to note how many people have been given sedatives at all when restrained by police… averaging 9-10 deaths/year should definitely cause us to rethink the viability and even legality of this practice.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    43·
    7 months ago

    This specific case enrages me. The number of people who needed to fuck up for it to go this badly…

    (starting with the Karen who called them in the first place)

    So far as I can tell, light sentences and home team advantage all around. And not a shred of sincere remorse for what happened to that young man that I can tell.

    Edit - Against all odds and with quite unique circumstances there was something resembling justice for George Floyd. Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and others are getting the more familiar treatment.

  • treefrog
    28·
    7 months ago

    What happened to giving people Valium to calm them down?

    Ketamine is for surgery. And feeling good. Not tranquilizing random strangers.

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
      34·
      7 months ago

      What happened to talking to people to figure out what’s going on? They straight up saw a black person walking home and murdered him with drugs.

      • treefrog
        15·
        7 months ago

        I hear that too.

        I was tased three times during a mental health crisis. And acknowledge that if my skin were darker I probably would have been shot instead.

        Still, ketamine is an anaesthetic and can have severe drug interactions. Valium is a hypnotic sedative and is used often in hospitals to calm people down.

        The paramedic was trying to tranquilize this guy like a fucking horse.

        Yes the situation was fucked up to begin with. However this paramedic in particular made a bad call that killed somebody. And I hope the family sues the shit out of him.