News September 03, 2021
Elijah McClain’s Father Demands Charged Cops & Paramedics Serve Life in Prison
TMZ/GoFundMe
The father of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist who died in 2019 after he was allegedly placed in a chokehold and injected with a sedative, is speaking out after the three officers and two paramedics involved in his son’s arrest were charged.
In a new interview with TMZ published Thursday, Elijah’s father LaWayne Mosley sat with civil rights attorney Mari Newman to discuss the grand jury indicting officers Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard, and Jason Rosenblatt, along with fire department paramedic Jeremy Cooper and fire Lt. Peter Cichuniec.
“I’m happy, ecstatic,” Mosley said, adding that he “[burst] in tears” when he received the call from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office about the 32-count indictment.
All five Denver officials face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for Elijah’s death. Additionally, Roedema and Rosenblatt were each charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of a crime of violence related to the assault charge, while Cooper and Cichuniec each face three counts of second-degree assault.
“The Colorado State Attorney General has done a very, very, very thorough investigation. They impaneled the Grand Jury, which subpoenaed documents, called witnesses over the course of many, many months. And we know they wouldn’t have brought these charges if they didn’t believe they could actually get convictions,” Newman added.
Mosley said he believes all five officials should get life prison sentences, saying, “I would love it. All of it.”
“If one thing comes out of this, it is the hope that there’s no family that ever has to suffer what this family has suffered,” Newman continued.
On the night of August 24, 2019, in Aurora, Colorado, Woodyard, Rosenblatt, and Roedema approached Elijah after a 911 caller deemed Elijah suspicious because he was “flailing his arms” and wearing a ski mask for his anemia while walking home from a store.
After officers claimed Elijah “resisted” arrest, Woodyard allegedly applied a “carotid control hold” around Elijah’s neck.
When cops held Elijah down, paramedics gave him a “standard medication” — reportedly 500 mg of ketamine — to reduce his agitation.
While being transported to the hospital, Elijah went into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead less than a week later on August 30, 2019.
Elijah’s autopsy revealed that a combination of a narrowed coronary artery and physical exertion contributed to his death. Additionally, Dr. Stephen Cina found no evidence that Elijah died from a ketamine overdose and said other possibilities should not be ruled out, including an unexpected reaction to ketamine or the alleged chokehold causing an irregular heartbeat.
