US ambulance worker convicted after administering ketamine overdose to detainee

An American ambulance worker has been convicted in the death of a 23-year-old man in Denver. The victim, Elijah McClain, was given the anesthetic ketamine during his arrest in 2019 and died a few days later. Research showed that the dose of ketamine was too high.

The now dismissed ambulance worker, Jeremy Cooper, was sentenced to fourteen months in prison. During that period he is allowed to work outside the prison, but he has to spend the evenings and weekends in jail.

Cooper faced a prison sentence of up to three years after he and a colleague were charged with manslaughter. The colleague was sentenced to five years in prison last month, because he was convicted on a more serious charge.

Strokehold

McClain was walking in a Denver suburb in August 2019 when he was stopped by police. Officers had received a report about a suspicious person in the area.

The black man initially ignored police commands to stop, after which the officers put him in a chokehold. A bodycam captured McClain repeatedly saying he couldn’t breathe.

The officers called an ambulance, after which the man was administered ketamine, according to the ambulance staff to calm him down. On the way to the hospital, the man suffered a heart attack. He died three days later.

The police officer who had McClain in a chokehold was previously convicted in this case. He was also sentenced to fourteen months in prison. Two other officers were acquitted.