Paramedic Peter Cichuniec sentenced to 5 years in prison in death of Elijah McClain

A Colorado paramedic was sentenced Friday to five years in prison in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black pedestrian who was given a lethal dose of ketamine in 2019 after a confrontation with police.

A Colorado paramedic was sentenced Friday to five years in prison in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black pedestrian who was given a lethal dose of ketamine in 2019 after a confrontation with police.

A jury in December found Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Cichuniec was also found guilty of second-degree assault through the unlawful administration of drugs.

Cichuniec was sentenced to five years in prison Friday. Cooper's sentencing is scheduled for April.

A demonstrator carries an image of Elijah McClain during a rally in Aurora, Colo. on June 27, 2020.David Zalubowski / AP filePolice confronted McClain, 23, in Aurora on the night of Aug. 24, 2019, after someone called them and reported a suspicious person wearing a ski mask — which McClain’s family said he regularly wore because of a blood condition that made him feel cold.

Officers eventually tackled McClain, and paramedics injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. After he was injected, McClain had no pulse in the ambulance, and he went into cardiac arrest and died six days later, on Aug. 30.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/paramedic-sentenced-death-elijah-mcclain-rcna141275

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