A judge in Colorado has sentenced a paramedic to five years in prison for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black young man who was walking home from the store when he was tackled by police, placed in a carotid hold and later injected with ketamine — a powerful sedative. The sentencing of Peter Cichuniec comes after he and another paramedic were found guilty in December of criminally negligent homicide for McClain’s death. During the trial, an expert witness testified there was “no reason” for the paramedics to give McClain ketamine. They were also found to have failed to provide medical care to McClain after they drugged him and he lay handcuffed and unconscious on the ground.