The convictions of two paramedics involved in the killing of Elijah McClain were overturned Thursday by a Colorado court.

McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died on Aug. 27, 2019, in Aurora, Colorado, six days after he was forcibly detained by police and injected with a fatal dose of ketamine by emergency medical services.

McClain’s cause of death was ruled “undetermined” with contributing factors including “intense physical exertion and a narrow left coronary artery.”

A Colorado jury in 2023 found paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Police officer Randy Roedema was convicted of criminally negligent homicide while two other officers — Jason ⁠Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard — were ​found not guilty on charges related to manslaughter ​and assault.

McClain was arrested while he was walking home after buying iced tea from a local store. Officers said they were responding to a report of a suspicious person in a ski mask who was waving his arms. McClain’s family members said he frequently wore masks because of a health condition that made him feel cold.

Body-camera footage of the exchange showed McClain telling officers he was an introvert and asking them to “please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.” Police then tackled him and put him in a chokehold. Cichuniec and Cooper injected McClain with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine, later telling investigators that McClain seemed out of control and suffering from “excited delirium.”

McClain’s last words before he died were “I can’t breathe.”

McClain’s killing, along with those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others in subsequent years, sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racial bias in policing.

State prosecutors have vowed to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.

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