Paramedic in Elijah McClain’s death sentenced to 5 years in prison

One of the paramedics who injected Elijah McClain with a fatal dose of ketamine was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Peter Cichniec and fellow paramedic Jeremy Cooper were found guilty in December of manslaughter for their role in McClain’s 2019 death. During the trial, Cicuniec was also found guilty of second-degree assault by unlawful administration of drugs.

On Friday, Cicuniec broke down in tears and said she was “broken” by not being able to tell McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, that her son was safe, NBC News reported.

Cichniec’s wife also cried during the sentencing, and his sons also spoke in court.

In August 2019, McClain, a 23-year-old black man, was walking home in Aurora, Colorado, when police responded to a call of a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask.

When officers arrived at the scene, they tackled McClain and forcibly restrained him. Paramedics injected him with ketamine, a powerful sedative. But McClain had no pulse when he was in the ambulance. He went into cardiac arrest and died six days later.

The Adams County coroner said McClain died of “complications from the administration of ketamine following forcible restraint.”

A total of five first responders have been criminally charged in connection with McClain’s death.

Randy Roedema was found guilty in October of manslaughter and third-degree assault. In January he was sentenced to one year and two months in prison.

Officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt were acquitted by a jury.

However, an independent investigation found that Aurora police had no probable cause to stop the confrontation with McClain or to use deadly force.

The investigation also found that paramedics sedated McClain with ketamine “without doing more than a simple visual observation.”

A grand jury indictment identified Cooper as the medic who received the call and was responsible for the safety of the crew and patients the night McClain was taken into custody, but he was the one who ordered the ketamine for the ambulance. It was Cicuniec. Cooper injected McClain with ketamine.

Cooper is scheduled to be sentenced in April.