Randy Roedema, a former Aurora, Colorado, police officer who convicted in the death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man in 2019, will be in court Friday for sentencing.
LONGMONT, COLORADO (Reuters) -A former Colorado police officer was sentenced to 14 months in jail for his role in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who was not suspected of any crime when police roughly restrained him and paramedics injected him with a powerful sedative. Former Aurora police officer Randy Roedema, 41, who faced up to three years in prison, was found guilty by a jury in October of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. The same jury found fellow police officer Jason Rosenblatt, 35, not guilty in a joint trial.
Former Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema has been sentenced to 14 months in Adams County Jail, along with four years probation after being convicted for the death of Elijah McClain back in 2019.
Described by one friend as ‘the sweetest, purest person I have ever met’, Elijah McClain lost his life after encountering three police officers and two paramedics while walking home. Kelly Rissman reports
The police killing of the young Black man in Colorado heightened calls for police reform and accountability across the nation amid the 2020 push for racial justice.