BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with a powerful sedative avoided prison and was sentenced to probation Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man’s death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests.
Jeremy Cooper had faced up to three years in prison after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of criminally negligent homicide. He administered a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped himas the massage therapist was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019.
What happened to giving people Valium to calm them down?
Ketamine is for surgery. And feeling good. Not tranquilizing random strangers.
What happened to talking to people to figure out what’s going on? They straight up saw a black person walking home and murdered him with drugs.
I hear that too.
I was tased three times during a mental health crisis. And acknowledge that if my skin were darker I probably would have been shot instead.
Still, ketamine is an anaesthetic and can have severe drug interactions. Valium is a hypnotic sedative and is used often in hospitals to calm people down.
The paramedic was trying to tranquilize this guy like a fucking horse.
Yes the situation was fucked up to begin with. However this paramedic in particular made a bad call that killed somebody. And I hope the family sues the shit out of him.