The second trial of a police officer in the death of Elijah McClain begins Friday, one day after a Colorado jury convicted one officer and acquitted another in the 23-year-old unarmed Black man’s fatal encounter with Aurora police in 2019. McClain’s death galvanized protests against police brutality and racial injustice that swept the country in 2020 and spurred state and local policy changes for the kind of chokehold restraints and ketamine injections used during his arrest.
The trial of suspended Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard, 34, begins with jury selection Friday. Woodyard, the officer who placed McClain in the carotid restraint maneuver that slows blood flow to the brain is the only first responder from the incident to stand trial alone.
The jury split its verdict in the case’s first trial, convicting suspended Aurora police officer Randy Roedema, 41, of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault but acquitting fired officer Jason Rosenblatt, 34, of the same charges.
McClain was walking home from a convenience store near his apartment on the night of Aug. 24, 2019, when he was detained by police responding to a 911 caller who reported the young massage therapist as looking “sketchy.” McClain was wearing a black ski mask because of a medical condition that made him cold, family said, and he was carrying a shopping bag when police approached.
McClain was listening to music through headphones and didn’t initially respond when officers called to him. They then tackled McClain before Woodyard placed him in a carotid hold. Responding paramedics injected him with ketamine, a powerful sedative. McClain never regained consciousness after the arrest and was taken off life support several days later.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) in a 32-count indictment charged five Aurora first responders: Roedema, Rosenblatt, Woodyard and Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper, 49, and Peter Cichuniec, 51, who jointly face trial in November.
All five defendants pleaded not guilty.
