Officer who arrested Elijah McClain found not guilty

Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard was found not guilty by a Colorado jury Monday on all charges related to the death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man who died after he was wrestled to the ground by police and injected with ketamine by paramedics in 2019.

Woodyard had pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with McClain’s death. The officer remains suspended from the department without pay, pending the outcome of the trial.

The charges stem from the arrest of McClain on August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask, according to the indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a massage therapist, musician, and animal lover, who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.