The trial involving a current and a former Colorado police officer accused in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, commenced on Wednesday. During the trial’s opening statements, prosecutor Jonathan Bunge recounted the distressing moments when the victim repeatedly uttered the words “I can’t breathe” – a chilling echo of similar pleas in other cases – seven times while lying handcuffed on the ground.

“Listen to Elijah’s words,” urged Bunge as he presented police body camera footage to the court. “When Elijah is on the ground handcuffed, he’s saying over and over and over again, ‘I can’t breathe. Please help me.'”

However, instead of providing assistance, Bunge asserted that Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema and his former colleague, Jason Rosenblatt, disregarded McClain’s pleas for aid. They purportedly informed arriving paramedics that he had displayed resistance and exhibited “crazy strength.”

Subsequently, paramedics administered a sedative to McClain “as he was drifting closer and closer to death,” Bunge stated within Adams County District Court.

“The sedative was the very last thing he needed at the time,” Bunge emphasized.

Roedema and Rosenblatt, the initial two among five individuals charged in connection with McClain’s demise to stand trial, listened silently as Bunge delineated the prosecution’s case. Judge Mark Warner had previously seated a jury comprising seven men and seven women, including two alternates, with most jurors appearing to be white.

Both Roedema and Rosenblatt face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and both have entered not guilty pleas.

In his opening statement, Roedema’s attorney, Reid Elkus, contended that his client was not present at the scene when McClain was initially detained. Elkus asserted that McClain did not begin resisting until another former Aurora police officer, Nathan Woodyard, applied a carotid hold on him. He further claimed that paramedics diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium” and administered a lethal dose of ketamine.

Elkus contended that McClain’s demise resulted from Aurora Fire Rescue paramedic Jeremy Cooper administering an excessive amount of ketamine given McClain’s size.

Rosenblatt’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, asserted that McClain had displayed furious resistance and declared his intent to reclaim control. Steinberg argued that Rosenblatt was “obligated” to assist in McClain’s arrest and cited an instance where Roedema allegedly remarked that McClain had attempted to access one of the officers’ firearms.

McClain, who was unarmed at the time, encountered officers on August 24, 2019, in response to reports of a suspicious individual wearing a ski mask and gesticulating. He was carrying a plastic bag with three cans of iced tea and his phone. Initially unresponsive to officers’ calls, McClain, a massage therapist, suffered a heart attack while being transported to the hospital and passed away three days later.

Woodyard, Cooper, and another Aurora Fire Rescue paramedic, Peter Cichuniec, each face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide and have pleaded not guilty.

Elijah McClain’s tragic death triggered extensive protests demanding justice and police reform, laying the foundation for nationwide demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis the following year. McClain’s repeated pleas of “I can’t breathe” were a haunting precursor to the now-infamous words uttered by Floyd while pinned beneath a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee on May 25, 2020.

Rosenblatt was terminated in 2020 after allegedly responding with “ha ha” to a picture received from fellow officers, one of whom appeared to be employing a chokehold near a memorial dedicated to McClain.