A second paramedic who had a hand in the lethal ketamine dosing of Elijah McClain has learned his fate four months after being convicted of criminally negligent homicide. On Friday (April 26), Jeremy Cooper was sentenced to complete four years of probation, 14 months of work release and 100 hours of community service.
He and colleague Peter Cichuniec were found guilty of their roles in the fatal encounter that unfolded in August 2019. Cichuniec was sentenced last month to five years in prison and three years of parole in conjunction with a second degree assault charge. As previously reported by REVOLT, Elijah was walking home from a convenience store when officers approached him. They were responding to calls about a suspicious person wearing a ski mask in the area.
During their interaction, the 143-pound man was wrestled and placed in a chokehold. When paramedics arrived at the scene, he was dosed twice, totaling 500mg of ketamine, an amount that would subdue a 200-pound person. He suffered a heart attack while being transported to a hospital and died three days later. He was 23 years old.
While in court on Friday, Cooper said he never intended for the young man to be harmed. When Elijah’s mother, Sheneen McClain, addressed the court, she said, “Jeremy Cooper followed the crowd of cowards and displayed his immorality through the lens of his own cluelessness. Before Jeremy Cooper injected the drug ketamine into my son’s conscious body, Jeremy Cooper did what he felt was best. He did nothing. Human justice does not come anywhere close to what true accountability is.”
“So, I will continue to say, meditate and pray for divine justice for my son, Elijah McClain. From my heart to my hands, long live Elijah McClain always and forever,” said Sheneen with her right fist raised. Outside of the courthouse, she told 9News that “It doesn't matter what anybody else do to wipe the blood of my son off their hands. It's already there. Stained.”
Cooper’s sentencing marks the close of the case. Additionally, in January, officer Randy Roedema was ordered to serve 14 months in prison; officer Jason Rosenblatt was acquitted of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault; and in 2023, officer Nathan Woodyard was cleared of manslaughter and homicide charges.