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DENVER, Colo. – A Colorado judge has reduced the sentence for Aurora paramedic Peter Cichuniec who was convicted in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain. McClain’s death gained widespread attention in 2020 when calls for social justice were propelled by the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Cichuniec originally received the minimum sentence of five years in prison in March of 2024. On Friday, September 13, Adams County District Judge Mark Warner resentenced Cichuniec to four years of probation citing “unusual and exceptional” circumstances. Colorado law allows a judge to reassess sentencing after those convicted have served 119 days of their original sentence.
McClain was stopped by police while walking home in August of 2019. Aurora officers then forcibly detained him using a chokehold technique that has since been banned. When paramedics arrived on the scene they injected Elijah McClain with a lethal dose of ketamine, resulting in cardiac arrest. McClain died six days later. Jeremy Cooper, the other paramedic convicted in the killing received four years probation, 14 months of work release and 100 hours of community service.
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Cichuniec petitioned the court in June, only three months after his initial sentencing. Prosecutors submitted court filings against Cichuniec’s request stating that, “A sentence modification in this case will undermine the jury’s verdict, the legislature’s mandatory sentencing scheme, and the deterrence of the abuse of anesthetic drugs for improper purposes.”
Ultimately, the judge agreed to convert Cichuniec’s sentence to probation citing his good character and lack of criminal history as justification.
Day of McClain Killing
On the night of August 24, 2019, McClain was walking home when authorities received a call about a suspicious man. He was wearing a ski mask when police arrived. An officer approached him, saying, “I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious.” The officer quickly put his hands on McClain, telling him to “stop tensing up,” as seen in body cam footage.
McClain said he was heading home and asked the officers to leave him alone. The officers then used a chokehold to overpower him and pinned him to the ground. McClain vomited several times, apologizing, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to do that. I can’t breathe correctly.”
Paramedics arrived minutes later and, about 15 minutes after Elijah McClain was first restrained, injected him with ketamine. An independent report from the Aurora City Council found he was given a dose suitable for a 190-pound person, though McClain only weighed 140 pounds.
After placing him on a gurney the paramedic noticed McClain’s breathing was abnormal and he had no pulse.
According to the DEA, ketamine is a “dissociative anesthetic” that makes the user feel detached from pain. Paramedics commonly use ketamine as a sedative because it induces immobility and amnesia-like effects.
Three days after the incident McClain was declared brain-dead and died on August 30, 2019.
