two rescuers sentenced in the United States after the death of a black person during an arrest

Two American emergency workers have been found guilty of “criminally negligent manslaughter” by a Colorado court jury.

On August 24, 2019, they were called by police officers to the scene of an arrest in Aurora, Colorado. Elijah McClain, 23, had just been arrested by the police after a call from a local resident describing him as strange (“sketchy”). He then returned from a grocery store and returned home with sodas.

A police officer uses a neck lock and the young man loses consciousness. The rescuers subsequently administered a powerful sedative, ketamine, without informing him or checking his constants. On the way to the hospital, Elijah McClain suffered a cardiac arrest and died a few days later.

The indictment of the rescuers and the recognition of their guilt are unprecedented in a case of police violence leading to the death of a black person in the United States.