Elijah McClain case: Paramedic Cichuniec testifies in trial Monday morning

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Prosecutors in the third and final trial in the case of Elijah McClain’s 2019 death rested their case following the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Wednesday. The defense will start calling witnesses on Thursday.

Two paramedics are at the center of this trial, and both defendants face charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault, plus sentence enhancers.

McClain, 23, was stopped by officers with the Aurora Police Department (APD) on Aug. 24, 2019 and following a violent encounter, died a few days later.

Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper are accused of injecting a significant amount of ketamine into McClain. Medical experts have previously testified that he was given a higher dose of ketamine than recommended for somebody of his size. In previous trials, prosecutors said the carotid hold, which was applied by police before paramedics arrived, played a key role in his death, while defense attorneys argued that the cause of death was only the ketamine, and McClain would have survived the police encounter without the injection. The ketamine led to cardiac arrest. McClain was declared brain dead and died Aug. 30, 2019.

Advocates call for change after officer acquitted in McClain’s death returns to work

Previously, a jury found APD Officer Randy Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, and former APD Officer Jason Rosenblatt, who was fired by the department less than a year after McClain’s death, was acquitted of all charges. In the second trial, defendant APD Officer Nathan Woodyard was also found not guilty.

The trial for Cichuniec and Cooper is expected to last about a month.

Scroll down to read updates from the Dec. 18 proceedings.

Monday, Dec. 18

In the trials of Cooper and Cichuniec, the court ruled Monday that neither audio nor video recordings would no longer be allowed.

“The Court has also been informed by a credible source that a juror has been approached while shopping with an invitation to speak after the case,” CoCourts posted on X Monday morning, formerly known as Twitter.

“This is a direct invitation for the juror to ignore the Court’s repeated order not to speak with anyone about the case and an invitation for contempt proceedings,” CoCourts went on to say.

Once Judge Mark Warner— presiding over this case— amended the decorum order for the trial, defense attorney Michael Lowe called his client Aurora Fire Rescue paramedic Peter Cichuniec to the stand.

The top takeaways from his testimony were:

Aurora Fire Rescue had no policy in place in 2019 about paramedics having authority over patient care when they’re on scene to assist police, according to Cichuniec.
Paramedics with AFR were trained that ketamine was a safe drug that would not kill patients, Cichuniec said.
The only treatment for patients that exhibit signs of excited delirium is ketamine, according to AFR protocols.
Patients have to show at least one symptom of excited delirium to receive this treatment, Cichuniec said.
In administering ketamine, the AFR protocol dictates paramedics give 5mg per kilogram of the patient’s weight. However during ketamine training, paramedics were told to give small patients 300mg, medium-sized patients 400mg and large patients 500mg.

You can read more about his full testimony here.

Elijah McClain | 360 In-Depth Coverage

Paramedics testify Monday in trial involving death of Elijah McClain

1:56 PM, Dec 18, 2023

Cichuniec was dismissed from the witness stand, and the court took an early lunch break. The trial is expected to resume at 12:45 p.m.

After the lunch break, Cooper took the stand.

He testified that he followed the excited delirium protocol after observing McClain.

“With what I was observing, you know, kind of going down that agitated protocol,” Cooper said. “And again, with what I was observing, and kind of the behavior of both Elijah and the officers, I was thinking this was more excited delirium than just an aggressive patient.”

Cooper said he chose to leave McClain alone for a short time to de-escalate the situation. He claims he was concerned that getting involved right away would cause further harm to his patient.

“Just trying to make sure that he stays in a good position, to try to de-escalate things until [the ambulance] can get there,” he said.

The 500 mg of ketamine administered to McClain was based on what Cooper estimated his weight to be, around 200 pounds, he testified in court.

“Collectively, we decided that was the excited delirium protocol and ketamine is the one drug of choice that we can use to help that,” he said.

Prosecutors challenged him on apparent discrepancies from his initial statement to police — made in September of 2020 — and what he testified to in court on Monday, such as McClain allegedly fighting and resisting the whole time, even on the gurney — something Cooper said he misspoke.

Prosecutors also questioned why equipment that may have been beneficial in the treatment of McClain was left on the engine.

Paramedics testify Monday in trial involving death of Elijah McClain

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