A Colorado appeals court on Thursday overturned the homicide convictions of two paramedics in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died after being restrained by police and injected with a dose of ketamine.
McClain’s final words, “I can’t breathe,” echoed those later spoken by George Floyd, whose death in 2020 helped fuel nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. McClain’s case also became a prominent symbol of the social justice movement.
