Two Aurora, Colo., paramedics facing multiple charges in the death of Elijah McClain testified Monday (Dec. 18) that they followed their training while trying to save the unarmed Black man during his encounter with the police, The Denver Post reports.

Prosecutors have charged Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in connection with McClain’s death. 

On Aug. 24, 2019, McClian was walking home when someone called 911 to report that he “looked sketchy” wearing a ski mask and waving his arms, according to The New York Times. The police struggled with McClain, 23, and used a carotid chokehold that restricts blood to the brain so they could handcuff him. 

Paramedics arrived and injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. McClain went into cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital and died a few days later. After the fatal incident, Colorado restricted the use of ketamine and banned police from using chokeholds.

The two paramedics testified that they believed McClain was suffering from excited delirium, a disputed condition that describes someone with extreme agitation, and a dose of ketamine was the only possible treatment.

However, Cichuniec admitted on cross-examination that he and Cooper overdosed McClain with ketamine, claiming that they overestimated his body weight.

Ketamine doses are either small, medium or large, depending on the person’s weight. They administered the largest when they should have used the smallest dose. Cichuniec testified that they didn’t have enough time to wait and see if the small dose would be effective.

“If we don’t work fast, he could die,” he testified. “…During our training, we were told numerous times that this is a safe, effective drug. …And ketamine is what is needed for excited delirium,” he said.

The prosecutor argued that the paramedics failed to determine that McClain had excited delirium before they injected him with ketamine. Neither of them asked McClain any questions about how he was feeling or even asked him his name.

Cooper testified that he didn’t speak with McClain out of fear that the officers would continue to restrain him violently.

“About the time I went to go do that, Elijah had just a little bit more of struggle or movement, and one of the officers picked him up and slammed him down to the ground, so I stopped,” Cooper testified. “…When I saw that, it was pretty shocking, so I told the officers, ‘OK, leave him here.’ That was my attempt to de-escalate things. They’re using violent control methods. That’s now harming Elijah, so that’s making my job more difficult.”

Both paramedics testified that they didn’t hear officers tell them that they used a chokehold on McClain. Cichuniec didn’t change that testimony even after the prosecutor played police body-cam footage showing him standing next to an officer telling him about the chokehold.

According to the paramedics, McClain was speaking incoherently. But the prosecutor played footage of McClain pleading clearly with officers, asking them to stop hurting him.

Cooper and Cichuniec are the last two people involved in McClain’s death to stand trial.

In October, a jury convicted Officer Randy Roedema of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault but acquitted Officer Jason Rosenblatt.

A jury found Officer Nathan Woodyard not guilty of criminal charges in November, and he has returned to work at the police department.