Aurora, COLORADO – Nearly five years after the tragic death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black massage therapist, at the hands of Aurora police officers and paramedics, one of the paramedics involved has been sentenced to five years in prison. But for many, the punishment does not fit the crime.
On August 24, 2019, McClain was walking home from a convenience store when someone called 911 to report a “suspicious” person. When officers confronted McClain, what started as a minor incident quickly escalated. Officers put McClain in a carotid hold – a move that has since been banned by the Aurora Police Department. Paramedics then arrived and injected McClain with a heavy dose of ketamine, purportedly to subdue him. McClain went into cardiac arrest and died days later.
The case drew national outrage and helped catalyze the racial justice protests of 2020. It also led to new statewide restrictions on ketamine and greater scrutiny of excited delirium diagnoses. But it has taken years for McClain’s loved ones to see any semblance of accountability.
Paramedic Peter Cichuniec was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison plus one additional year for charges related to McClain’s death. Cichuniec was convicted in December 2022 on charges of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault. His colleague, Jeremy Cooper, is set to be sentenced in April.
For activists, the convictions of Cichuniec and Cooper represent incremental progress. But many hoped for longer sentences, arguing that the paramedics need to be held fully responsible for their egregious errors.
“Anything less than the maximum sentence is simply an unfair price to pay for Elijah’s life,” said Reverend Thomas Mayes, a community organizer in Aurora. “This young man’s bright future was stolen from him. The paramedics and officers involved deserve severe punishment.”
Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, gave an emotional victim impact statement at Cichuniec’s sentencing hearing. She recounted how her son vomited and apologized as he was dying after the ketamine injection. “He felt what you did to him,” she told Cichuniec. “You and the police murdered my baby.”
McClain emerged from the courthouse with her fist raised, signaling that the fight for justice for her son is not over.
Outside the courtroom, over 100 firefighters from across the country gathered to show support for Cichuniec. Their presence highlighted deep concerns in the paramedic community that these prosecutions set a dangerous precedent.
Ed Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, attended the sentencing hearing and later told reporters, “Elijah McClain should be alive today; the circumstances that led to his death are awful, but at the end of the day these firefighters aren’t criminals. They didn’t kill him and they shouldn’t be going to jail.”
Kelly argued that paramedics often have to make quick decisions with imperfect information. He worries the threat of prosecution will drive people out of the profession or make them hesitate in crisis situations.
An attorney for Cichuniec made a similar case, telling the judge at sentencing, “This was a tragedy, but Mr. Cichuniec is not a dangerous criminal. He has dedicated his life to helping people. He thought he was doing the right thing.”
But prosecutors asserted that McClain’s death was not just a routine mistake – it reflected deep systemic problems with excited delirium training and the cooperation between police and paramedics.
The controversial excited delirium diagnosis has disproportionately been applied to Black men who die in police custody. Ketamine is sometimes used to sedate those perceived to be experiencing excited delirium, but experts sharply debate whether excited delirium is even a real medical condition.
During the trials, prosecutors argued that Aurora paramedics have a pattern of administering ketamine improperly and failing to examine patients before sedating them, particularly when those patients are already restrained by police.
McClain weighed only 140 pounds but received an overly high dose of 500 milligrams of ketamine – and he was injected less than a minute after paramedics’ arrival, while handcuffed and vomiting.
“The defendants did not care to check vital signs, make observations, or do their jobs properly,” a prosecutor told jurors in Cooper’s trial. “Their priority was to sedate him at any cost.”
In Cichuniec’s trial, prosecutors emphasized that he failed to push back when officers described McClain as “crazy” and potentially “on something.” Text messages showed Cichuniec making light of McClain’s death with other paramedics afterward.
This dynamic between police and paramedics has come under scrutiny in Aurora and other cities since McClain’s death. Many departments are now re-examining policies to ensure paramedics make fully independent patient assessments.
Ultimately, activists say the bigger problem is a system that allows police to violently escalate nonviolent encounters and view people of color as threats.
“The paramedics failed Elijah because they deferred to racist police officers instead of treating him like a patient,” said local pastor Reginald Holmes. “You have to dig up the root or the weed will keep coming back.”
For Sheneen McClain, seeing two of the paramedics held criminally accountable provided some solace. But true justice is impossible.
“Nothing will bring back my beautiful son,” she told reporters after the sentencing. “He should still be here today, living his life. I’m glad these paramedics will go to prison, but Elijah is gone forever. We have to make sure no other mother loses her child like I lost mine.”
The sentencing of Cichuniec and Cooper raises complex questions about responsibility and accountability. Should paramedics be protected when following standard procedures, even if those procedures are flawed? When does a tragic mistake become criminal negligence? What systemic factors drive otherwise decent people to act callously?
This case also highlights deeper issues around medical racism, police brutality, and our society’s dehumanization of Black men. As Aurora continues grappling with Elijah McClain’s legacy, those root causes cannot be ignored.
True justice for Elijah means rebuilding trust between law enforcement, paramedics, and communities of color. It means eliminating excessive force and biased treatment. It means fostering a culture where no one sees a young Black man as a threat merely for walking down the street.
For activists, McClain’s death was no anomaly. Until real reforms emerge from this tragedy, the fight goes on.
