Elijah McClain | Paramedics Inject Man Suffering from "Excited Delirium" with Ketamine

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[00:00:46] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash income all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash income now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. This is True Crime Psychology and Personality where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:01:18] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective. I'm Dr. Todd Grande. I have a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision and I'm a licensed professional counselor of mental health. Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:01:37] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Elijah McClain? First I'll look at the timeline of the crime, then offer my analysis. On August 24, 2019 at 1029 p.m., a 17-year-old male called 911 and said that he was at Billing Street and Evergreen Avenue in Aurora, Colorado.

[00:02:00] He had spotted a man in a mask walking southbound on Billing Street. The caller said that the man put his arms up and did all these kinds of signs when he passed him. The man looked sketchy and he might be a good person or a bad person.

[00:02:17] When asked to describe the man, the caller said he was a black male in a black ski mask. The caller did not see any weapons. An officer named Nathan Woodyard arrived at 1042 p.m. and saw 23-year-old Elijah McClain walking on Billing Street.

[00:02:35] Elijah matched the description of the suspicious person the caller described, including the ski mask. Nathan exited his vehicle, approached Elijah, and ordered him to stop walking by saying, do me a favor, stop right there.

[00:02:49] Elijah continued walking and said to Nathan, I have a right to walk where I'm going. Nathan replied, I have the right to stop you because you're being suspicious. As he said this, Nathan grabbed Elijah's arms. This occurred just 10 seconds after Nathan exited his police vehicle.

[00:03:09] Two other officers, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Rodema, joined the confrontation within five seconds. Jason grabbed Elijah's other arm. Elijah said, quote, let go of me, stop. You guys started to address me and I was stopping my music to listen. Now let go of me, unquote.

[00:03:29] The officers refused to abide by Elijah's request and continued to physically restrain him. Less than a minute from when Nathan first initiated the confrontation, the officers decided to move Elijah to a grassy area in case they wanted to force him to the ground.

[00:03:46] As they were doing this, Randy said, quote, he grabbed your gun, dude, unquote. Apparently, he was referring to Jason's gun. I guess Jason was the dude. Now the officers vigorously tried to force Elijah to the ground.

[00:04:03] Jason tried to apply a carotid control hold on Elijah's neck just before they went to the ground. This hold involves putting pressure on both sides of the neck to cause unconsciousness. Jason released the hold after just one second because he realized it was not going to be

[00:04:18] effective in that position. A few seconds after Elijah was forced to the ground, Nathan executed a carotid control hold. Randy saw Elijah's eyes roll back and told Nathan to release the hold, which Nathan did. The officers handcuffed Elijah and requested help from paramedics.

[00:04:38] Evidently, Elijah must have regained consciousness or maybe he was never completely unconscious. He told the officers that his name was Elijah McClain. He said, quote, I was just going home. I'm an introvert and I'm different. Going home. I'm just different. I'm just different. That's all.

[00:04:57] That's all I was doing. I'm so sorry. Unquote. The officers continued to restrain Elijah on the ground. They talked about how he allegedly reached for Jason's gun. Elijah said, quote, I have no gun. I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting. Why are you attacking me?

[00:05:16] I don't believe in guns. I don't even kill flies. Unquote. He later said, quote, I don't judge people for anything. I respect all life. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do better to help all life.

[00:05:32] I will do anything I have to sacrifice my identity. I'll do it. I'll do it. You are all phenomenal. You are beautiful. Forgive me. Unquote. Elijah complained about not being able to breathe and vomited a few times. At 10 53 p.m., emergency medical services personnel arrived at the scene.

[00:05:53] They stood back for about seven minutes without doing anything. Two fire paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichunic, believed that Elijah was suffering from a condition called excited delirium. They decided to give Elijah ketamine in order to sedate him.

[00:06:11] Body weight is used to determine the correct dose of this drug. The paramedics estimated Elijah's weight to be 190 pounds. In reality, he was 140 pounds. Based on this incorrect weight, Jeremy Cooper administered 500 milligrams of ketamine to Elijah at about 11 p.m.

[00:06:31] This dose, of course, was higher than indicated because of the overestimation of the weight. The injection was made without the paramedics examining Elijah. He had not been moving for about a minute prior to the injection of the drug. At 11 03 p.m., Elijah was loaded into an ambulance.

[00:06:48] At 11 04 p.m., he went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate him as he was taken to the hospital. Three days later, on August 27, Elijah McClain was declared dead. An investigation into Elijah's death revealed that he had been walking home after making a purchase at a convenience store.

[00:07:09] He was 0.3 miles from his home on East Montview Boulevard when the police stopped him. Elijah had marijuana and ketamine in his system. His cause of death was ruled as undetermined, but almost three years later, it was changed to complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.

[00:07:30] Elijah also had a pre-existing heart condition. The physicians did not think this contributed to his death. The three police officers, Nathan, Jason, and Randy, as well as the two paramedics, Jeremy and Peter, were indicted in September of 2021. They were charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

[00:07:49] Additionally, Jason, Randy, Jeremy, and Peter were charged with second-degree assault. On October 12, 2023, Randy Rodema was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. In the same trial, Jason Rosenblatt was found not guilty on all charges. On November 6, 2023, Nathan Woodyard was found not guilty on all charges.

[00:08:17] On December 22, 2023, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Sushunic were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Peter was additionally found guilty of second-degree assault. Did you guys hear about that couple that went on vacation and one spouse murdered the other?

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[00:11:13] These convictions are highly controversial. Many people believe they are not supported by the evidence and will have a chilling effect on officers and paramedics. The state of Colorado, of course, disagrees. They believe that all five people were guilty and their behavior was egregious.

[00:11:30] Because this case involves two different groups, the three officers and the two paramedics, I will examine the guilt and innocence for each group separately. First let's take a look at the evidence both for and against the idea that the officers were guilty, starting with the inculpatory factors.

[00:11:46] The police received a call about a suspicious person, but no crime was reported. Elijah was not carrying a weapon and he was not acting in a violent or threatening manner. In order to justify an investigatory stop, an officer must have reasonable objective

[00:12:02] grounds or the reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. None of the officers involved could articulate a crime that Elijah had committed, was committing, or was about to commit. These officers claimed that Elijah resisted and reached for a gun, but there is no evidence to support these claims.

[00:12:21] Conveniently, all three body cameras were knocked off during the struggle. The officers physically restrained Elijah by their own admission. The claims the officers made about Elijah resisting them led to the ketamine injection, the combination of the ketamine, and the restraint killed him.

[00:12:39] Moving to the exculpatory factors, Elijah was wearing a jacket and a ski mask in the summer. This warranted an investigation into his behavior. As far as the carotid control hold, the use of this hold was permitted at that time by the police in Aurora, Colorado.

[00:12:57] It is difficult to be confident in the state's conclusion that forcible restraint contributed to Elijah's death. And considering all the factors in this case, do I think the officers were guilty of manslaughter? No. I don't believe they were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:13:13] The problem here is that the state changed the cause of death, and there is the sense that they really don't know what killed Elijah. I'm not convinced the physical restraint played a role in his death, at least not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:13:26] Even though I believe they were not guilty of a crime, the officers behaved badly in this case and, in my opinion, did violate Elijah's rights. There was no need for them to be aggressive and make physical contact.

[00:13:39] Now moving to the case of the paramedics, let's take a look at the evidence both for and against the idea that they were guilty, starting with the inculpatory factors. The paramedics should have never injected Elijah with any drug without first assessing him.

[00:13:53] There was no medical reason to administer the drug, and Elijah was not resisting. He had not moved for a minute when he was injected. The officers told the paramedics that they had used a carotid control hold, so the paramedics

[00:14:07] should have known that a forcible restraint had just occurred. After making the decision to inject Elijah anyway, the paramedics overestimated his weight, which resulted in too much ketamine being administered. Moving to the exculpatory factors, the paramedics were simply acting on incorrect information they had received from the police.

[00:14:28] They believed that Elijah had been struggling. They claimed that they did not hear the officers say that they had used a carotid control hold. If Elijah had been resisting, the paramedics had a reason to believe it was not safe to perform an assessment.

[00:14:43] The overestimation of the weight occurred because Elijah was wearing a jacket and it was dark. The use of ketamine by paramedics was allowed at the time, so the injection was not an unusual or unsanctioned tactic.

[00:14:57] It's difficult to be confident in the state's conclusion that the ketamine caused Elijah's death. When considering all the evidence, do I think that the paramedics were guilty? No, I do not believe they were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:15:10] My problem here is the same one I mentioned with the officers. The state did not appear to be confident in the cause of death. I don't think the paramedics should have injected Elijah with ketamine, but if the

[00:15:21] injection can't be definitively connected to his death, then they are not guilty. I believe they were guilty in reality, but that's different than the legal standard of reasonable doubt. What do I think happened in this case? This is just a theory, my opinion.

[00:15:36] Elijah McClain was acting suspiciously on the night of August 24, 2019. Despite this, he was within his rights. The police engaged him forcefully, which was unnecessary. He resisted a little, but was not aggressive. The police overreacted and felt as though they needed to justify their use of force.

[00:15:56] They were overly dramatic and pretended Elijah was dangerous. They described him as violent, fighting, struggling, and at various times said that his strength was incredible, crazy, and superior. They invoked the concept of excited delirium.

[00:16:15] This is a condition that is used by police officers to justify the use of force. It involves a person being aggressive, out of control, sweating profusely, and exhibiting incredible physical strength. There is a debate about whether this condition is real.

[00:16:31] Even if excited delirium is a real condition, the police often misuse it. The condition is disproportionately invoked by police officers to justify using force against black men. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, they too were on board the excited delirium

[00:16:47] train and came to believe that Elijah had the condition. They injected him with ketamine, believing that they were diffusing a dangerous situation. The ketamine alone caused Elijah's death. There were no other contributing factors. Now moving to my final thoughts.

[00:17:04] Regardless of guilt or innocence, there is no escaping the fact that Elijah was peacefully walking home from the store when he was accosted by armed agents of the state. The same agents then facilitated or encouraged other government employees to inject Elijah with ketamine.

[00:17:21] This is like something out of a horror movie. A man is peacefully walking one moment, and the next he's dying from being injected with a drug. I think the lesson learned in this case is never trust the police.

[00:17:34] Elijah should not have resisted the police, trusting that they would treat him well, and the paramedics should not have trusted what the police were telling them. They should have conducted their own assessment before pulling out a syringe. These paramedics forgot their responsibility to do no harm.

[00:17:58] This has been true crime psychology and personality from Ars Langa Media. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Ars Langa Vita Brevis. Allegedly is back for season two. A new crime every time.

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