Defense medical expert claims ketamine did not kill Elijah McClain. He should still be here. Last week a medical expert testified for the defense lawyers of Aurora Fire Department paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lieutenant Peter Cichuniec. [00:00:20] They're accused of causing 23-year-old Elijah McClain's death, expert said he doesn't believe the ketamine dose the pair gave McClain contributed to his death. Shouldn't have got any dose. Cooper and Cichuniec were charged with reckless manslaughter, [00:00:38] criminally negligent homicide, and three counts each of second degree assault in connection to McClain's death. Why? Look at the picture, why? The two paramedics are being tried to determine if the ketamine injection [00:00:55] they gave McClain three years ago ultimately killed him following the struggle with Aurora police that sent him to the hospital. It was the night of August 24th, 2019, Elijah was returning from a convenience store, bought some iced tea. [00:01:11] Suddenly someone called the police about a, quote, suspicious person in a ski mask. Three police officers would force McClain to the ground, handcuff, and place him in a neck hold that restricted oxygen to his brain, causing him to briefly lose consciousness. [00:01:27] He even vomited into his ski mask during the ordeal. Think how scared he was. He went to get some iced tea at a convenience store, and suddenly he was being jumped. This is the true definition of the jump out, boys. [00:01:44] He was being jumped, minding his business. Is that suspicious? And it's cold, by the way, very cold, that's why his face was protected. During the transport to the hospital, the medics decided to administer [00:02:04] a 500 milligram dose of ketamine as a sedative used for anesthetizing pain. However, they never asked or consulted McClain about the dose, and he ended up going into cardiac arrest. McClain stopped breathing just a few minutes after the injection, and [00:02:19] three days later a doctor declared him brain dead. Walking home after getting some iced tea at the store. The testimony details, according to the Denver Gazette, Kennon Heard, an emergency physician and toxicologist at UCHealth, [00:02:35] pointed to Aurora paramedic protocols that indicate the 500 milligrams of ketamine were more than what McClain's body weight called for. That dose would have been more appropriate for someone who weighs roughly 80 pounds more than McClain. [00:02:51] Atlanta Black Star with the details. However, Heard also said respiratory arrest is a rare and extreme possible side effect of ketamine and concluded McClain's death was accidental. Quote, I would not expect life-threatening effects from this amount of ketamine, [00:03:06] Heard told the jury. Heard never approximated what constitutes a fatal dose. On cross examination one prosecutor asked Heard if people can die from expected side effects if they don't receive the proper intervention or treatment, to which Heard said yes. [00:03:25] Prosecutors argued that Cooper and Cichuniec decided to administer ketamine because they solely relied on the police officer's account of McClain's behavior. Body cam footage revealed that one officer said McClain showed extreme strength, implying he had to be on something. [00:03:40] This is that superhuman stuff again, yeah, okay. Aurora paramedics are reportedly trained to administer ketamine to patients suffering from a syndrome called, I mean is this real? Do we have to keep going to this one, quote, excited delirium? [00:03:59] It's kinda like that catch all, let's just throw it in there. It's kinda this phenomenon where we can make it be whatever we need it to be. This condition isn't one that's recognized by the American Medical Association or the American Psychiatric Association. [00:04:16] And even the Colorado Licensing Board for Peace Officers voted to remove the term from training documents. Let's get rid of this escape clause is how I interpret that, okay, it's too much even for us to try to stand on. [00:04:33] Another medical expert testifying on behalf of the defense said that the blame should be on the officers rather than the medics. The forensic pathologist, Ljubisa Dragovic, determined McClain died from brain damage caused by inhaling his own vomit. [00:04:49] Both Heard's and Dragovic's conclusions contradict one doctor who conducted the autopsy for McClain and another who testified for the prosecution. Dr. Stephen Cina with the coroner's office initially determined McClain's cause and [00:05:06] manner of death were both undetermined until he reviewed body cam footage. He amended his previous conclusion and determined that ketamine contributed to McClain's death. Dr. Roger Mitchell determined McClain's cause of death as complications following acute ketamine administration during violent subdual and [00:05:25] restraint by law enforcement and emergency response personnel. A source told CNN it's uncommon for paramedics to be held responsible for patient deaths like this. But the coroner's report and the dose of ketamine raised questions about whether [00:05:41] Cooper and Cichuniec are criminally liable for negligence or wanton behavior. Three officers who were involved in the struggle with Elijah McClain, left to right here, Randy Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt, and Nathan Woodyard did stand trial for McClain's death. [00:05:59] Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide, third degree assault, to be sentenced in January. Rosenblatt and Woodyard were acquitted of all charges. Woodyard is eligible to return to restricted duty with the Aurora PD. [00:06:16] Do they want him back? Well this is a mess, Mayor. And I understand that these issues have to be adjudicated fully, legally. And there's a relationship between prosecutors, paramedics, police, medical examiners. [00:06:33] I'd like to stay with how it began, not how it's going. He was going to get an iced tea, returning home, minding his own business, and now he's not here. [00:06:48] You shot him up, and now he's not here. You took him to the ground, and now he's not here. I'm still waiting to understand what's the crime, exactly? And why we've had to go through this long, winding process for [00:07:06] a young man who did nothing wrong except breathe, walking down the street with an iced tea, no longer here, matter. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when we see this is too similar to Trayvon Martin, [00:07:23] hoodie, iced tea, dead. Elijah McClain, ski mask, iced tea, dead. I think what we know is the iced tea may not always be present, but the young black men. We find out real quick why police officers are the leading cause for [00:07:40] black men between the ages of 18 and 24. It's the leading cause, the number one leading cause of death. And I think the lack of humanity in all of this is unbelievable. You can't deny the difference between 80 pounds, so that means both of those paramedics could look at him and see that he was not heavy enough. [00:07:56] He was not 80 pounds heavier than he was, and he shouldn't have got 500 milligrams. Also they should have a duty not to listen to what the police say, but respond to what's going on with the patient in front of them. Regardless of what the police officers tell you, what you see is what you should [00:08:13] be trying to deal with, and that has to be considered into this. And I understand this legal expert said this is not what killed him, brain damage is what killed him. In that case, you can always say the stopping of the heart is the reason, or the stopping of the brain is the reason people are dead, and [00:08:29] not the thing that led to it. In law there's this thing called but for, but for something he wouldn't have been in a coma, but for something his heart wouldn't have stopped. And that ketamine, I mean, has to have a role in that but for clause. And I also think we hear this idea of police officers [00:08:47] being tried and then also allowed back. All of those officers, there are no innocent officers on the scene of this crime. It is impossible to be innocent when what happened to this young man happened to him in presence of these other two officers. [00:09:03] And so just because you don't put your hands on someone, the deadly threat is you have been charged with the public safety. To allow your fellow officer to behave in this manner should disqualify you from not only being a police officer, but anything with government trust, with public trust. It is so disgusting that we have to keep saying that these officers should not be [00:09:22] rehired anywhere, let alone in a police department. Especially the one where his family may have to come into contact with you, knowing that you killed their son, you were a part of it by sitting there, allowing your partner to do this. Excited delirium, the last thing I'll say, is nothing more than [00:09:40] the same fire that created the first birth of the nation, that made black men the hunters of peaceful white women, and the rise of the KKK. So I'm disgusted with that term, the fact that it's on any legal documents is absolutely disgusting when it's already been debunked in all medical societies. [00:10:00] >> Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, did Emmett Till have this too? This is a made-up term to criminalize and portray even black boys as boogeyman, beware, be afraid, be afraid. [00:10:15] And you make an excellent point about paramedics and police. Last I checked, these are separate entities, why are you colluding? And that's what I call it, collusion. Treat the patient in front of you, that's what you said, Mayor, [00:10:32] I couldn't agree more. Was he kicking, and screaming, and tearing up the inside of the unit, did you have to strap him down? I didn't hear any of that. Only the best, people. We'll keep following it, and I pray for this family.