Four years after the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, one of the officers involved has been convicted, but his former colleague was found not guilty, leaving his family disappointed and confused.
“This is not justice,” Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain’s mother, told 9News following the verdict.
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In 2019, police in a suburb outside of Denver heard reports of a “sketchy man” in the area. They approached McClain, who was unarmed and had not committed a crime, choking him and pinning him to the ground. McClain, who is Black, told police seven times that he couldn’t breathe to no avail. Paramedics on the scene then shot him up with Ketamine. His heart stopped on the way to the hospital, and he was pronounced dead several days later.
On Thursday, a 12-person jury found Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. However, they found officer Jason Rosenblatt. In court, Rosenblatt’s attorney argued that McClain resisted arrest and that Roedema had said that he had gone for his service weapon.
Sheneen McClain expressed her deep disappointment that Rosenblatt was acquitted. “Right is right, and wrong is wrong,” she said in an interview with 9News. “And when you continue to allow the type of injustice that happened to my son, there is so much to work on,”
This isn’t the last trial in the McClain case. A third Aurora police officer, who choked McClain, is also facing similar charges to the other two officers. And the paramedics who injected him with Ketamine are also facing trials. The third Aurora officer’s trial begins on Friday. And the three paramedics have trials scheduled for later in the year. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and their trials are sure to be closely watched.
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