A former US police officer from Colorado has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for his involvement in the murder in 2019 of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man who, without being suspected of any crime, was abruptly held by the authorities and to whom paramedics injected a powerful sedative, CNN has reported.
The 41-year-old former agent, who faced up to three years in prison, was pleaded guilty by a jury of third degree assault and homicide by criminal negligence, in October last year, during a joint trial in which his partner Jason Rosenblatt, 35, was found not guilty.
Judge Mark Warner sentenced Roedema to 14 months in prison for third degree assault and has also ordered four years probation and 90 days of imprisonment, to be served simultaneously with the sentence for assault, for homicide due to criminal negligence.
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Roedema has until March 22 to surrender in jail of Adams County. However, although the defendant conveyed his condolences to the McClain family in court this Friday, he has not apologized for the death of Elijah McClain and has stated that he acted based on his training.
The case dates back to August 24, 2019, when police officers responded to a call reporting lto the presence of a “suspicious person” who was wearing a balaclava, according to an accusation reported by CNN. Officers confronted McClain, knocked him to the ground and restrained him before a team of paramedics injected him with a strong sedative. On the way to the hospital, the young man suffered a heart attack and died three days later.