(Los Angeles) One of the white American police officers prosecuted for the death shortly after his arrest of Elijah McClain, a young African-American who died in 2019, was convicted Thursday of manslaughter by a Colorado court.
In August 2019, Elijah McClain, aged 23, was held in the neck and then forcibly injected with a powerful sedative during an arrest in Aurora, a city in this state in the western United States.
He died three days later of a heart attack.
PHOTO JAE C. HONG, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Elijah McClain died in 2019 during a police intervention.
His death only attracted the attention of the American media after that of George Floyd, another African-American killed during a police intervention in May 2020, brought his case, and others, back into the light spotlights.
The case was initially closed but Governor Jared Polis requested the resumption of investigations in June 2020 after speaking with the family of the deceased. A petition launched to reopen the investigation had collected more than three million signatures.
A Colorado jury found police officer Randy Roedema guilty. His former colleague, Jason Rosenblatt, also prosecuted for manslaughter, was acquitted.
A third police officer, Nathan Woodyard, accused of carrying out the chokehold, must be tried in the coming days, according to local channel 9News NBC.
Two nurses should also be tried in November in this case, according to the American media.
“Today’s verdict is about taking responsibility, everyone is responsible and equal under the law,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said Thursday ahead of the statement.
On the day of the incident, police were called by a person describing a “suspicious” black man wearing a ski mask and “behaving strangely” on a street in Aurora.
A police officer claimed that Elijah McClain, who was not carrying any weapon, tried to grab his revolver during the intervention.
According to the victim’s family, he had simply gone out to buy a drink and often wore this ski mask so as not to be cold, as he suffered from anemia.