Death of Elijah McClain: 3rd Aurora officer on trial

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Officer Nathan Woodyard, who faces a single count of reckless manslaughter, was the first officer to approach as McClain walked home from a convenience store.

BRIGHTON, Colo. — Jurors hearing the case against an Aurora police officer charged in the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain saw extensive body-camera footage of the incident as the trial moved into the first full day of testimony Wednesday.

That footage captured the incident from numerous angles as officers stopped McClain following a 911 caller’s report that he was wearing a mask and appeared to be “sketchy.”

At the time, McClain was not breaking any laws and was not armed.

Officer Nathan Woodyard, who faces a single count of reckless manslaughter, was the first officer to approach as McClain walked home from a convenience store carrying a plastic sack with three cans of tea in it.

Woodyard grabbed McClain within eight seconds of approaching him, and he and fellow officers Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt subdued and restrained him. In the midst of the struggle, Roedema shouted that McClain had attempted to grab Rosenblatt’s gun – an act the prosecution asserts did not happen.

That statement led the officers to wrestle McClain to the ground, use a neck hold that briefly rendered him unconscious, and handcuff him.

Jurors saw and heard the confrontation – although some of the footage was of little use because one of the body cameras fell off as the officers and McClain struggled – and it ended up pointed at the sky. Some of the audio included McClain saying repeatedly that he could not breathe and asking for help.

In all, at least nine officers and two sergeants responded to the scene, and the jurors saw footage captured by seven of them.

There is no dispute that an injection of the sedative ketamine, given by paramedics, ultimately caused McClain’s death.

Prosecutors allege, however, that when Woodyard and other officers subdued and restrained McClain – and then put him in a neck hold that cut oxygen to his brain – they triggered a cascading series of medical issues that put his life in danger. The carotid hold rendered McClain briefly unconscious, they allege, and caused him to vomit into his mask – and then inhale some of it into his lungs. That left him fighting to breathe and struggling with low oxygen levels and a buildup of acid in his body.

Prosecutors also allege that Woodyard violated department policy after he put McClain in a neck hold by, among other things, failing to monitor his health or tell paramedics that he had been rendered unconscious and had vomited.

During cross-examination of Aurora Police Lt. Delbert Tisdale, who oversees the department’s section that manages body camera footage, defense attorney Andrew Ho elicited testimony that a sergeant on the scene did relay information to the paramedics.

He also elicited testimony that for periods of time, Woodyard was not seen in body camera footage that showed McClain and the officers and paramedics around him. And Ho also got Tisdale to identify multiple points where two sergeants – superior officers to Woodyard and the others who confronted McClain – were at the scene.

McClain died three days after the Aug. 24, 2019, confrontation.

Then-Adams County District Attorney Dave Young cleared the officers of any criminal wrongdoing. Later, Gov. Jared Polis appointed state Attorney General Phil Weiser as special prosecutor in the case, and he took evidence to a grand jury, which indicted three police officers and two paramedics.

Woodyard’s trial is the second of three for first responders accused of wrongdoing in McClain’s death.

Last week, a different jury acquitted Rosenblatt but found Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

The paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, are scheduled to go on trial in late November.

Sentencing for Roedema is scheduled for Jan. 5. He had been suspended without pay since being indicted in the case but was fired after being convicted.

Rosenblatt was fired earlier for responding “ha ha” to a photo that other officers took appearing to administer a carotid hold on one another at the scene of McClain’s death.

Woodyard remains suspended without pay pending the outcome of this case. If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison.

The paramedics also are suspended without pay while they await trial.