Denver7 is following the second of three trials in the case of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man who died a few days after he was violently arrested by Aurora police on Aug. 24, 2019.
Aurora Police Department (APD) Officer Nathan Woodyard is charged with reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of McClain. Previously, a jury found APD Officer Randy Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. Former APD Officer Jason Rosenblatt, who was fired by the department less than a year after McClain's death, was acquitted of all charges.
Woodyard, who is currently suspended from the APD, is accused of putting McClain in a carotid hold that rendered him unconscious before paramedics arrived to administer ketamine, a powerful sedative. The 23-year-old massage therapist encountered police on Aug. 24, 2019 after a person called 911 to report a “sketchy” man walking in Aurora.
Officers with the Aurora Police Department (APD) responded and put McClain, who was unarmed and had not committed a crime, into a neck hold. Paramedics administered the ketamine, which officials said led to cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.
He was declared brain dead days later and died Aug. 30, 2019. A pathologist found he was given a higher dose of ketamine than recommended for somebody of his size and, as a result, he overdosed. The City of Aurora settled a civil lawsuit with McClain’s family in November 2021 for $15 million.
Woodyard, along with two paramedics who have yet to face jury trials, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in January 2023 in the wake of a grand jury indictment.
Two Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics — Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper — have trials beginning Nov. 17 and 27, respectively, for charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault, plus sentence enhancers. The paramedics are accused of injecting a significant amount of ketamine into McClain, causing him to overdose.
Scroll down to read updates from the Nov. 1 proceedings.
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Day nine of Woodyard's trial on Wednesday included testimony from a sergeant with the APD, as well as defendant Woodyard.
It began with the defense calling Aurora Sgt. Dale Leonard as a witness. He has worked with the APD for a little more than 20 years and been a sergeant for about seven years.
On the evening of Aug. 24, 2019, he was working and responded to the call regarding the McClain case after hearing an officer at that scene call for an ambulance. He recalled that it took about a minute to 90 seconds for him to respond, using his vehicle's sirens and lights, he told defense attorney Megan Magdalena Downing in court.
When he arrived, Leonard said he remembered seeing the three officers — Woodyard, Roedema and Rosenblatt — trying to gain control of a person on the ground. He called the scene "chaotic" as the officers tried to put handcuffs on McClain. The officers told Leonard that the carotid hold had been used on McClain. He confirmed that afterward, they saw McClain was breathing, but did not recall if any officers checked for a pulse. Aurora Fire Rescue, which has paramedics, was called to the scene, he said.
Leonard said he did not recall McClain saying that he could not breathe, and it did not appear that way when he was at the scene. After the carotid hold, McClain was placed in the recovery position, which was on his side. At that point, Woodyard left McClain's side while other officers stayed with him, Leonard testified.
He recalled feeling concerned about McClain's deteriorating condition as they waited for Aurora Fire Rescue to arrive. He also remembered hearing McClain vomit and instructing the officers to make sure he was on his side and breathing. He used the radio a few times to ask why Aurora Fire Rescue was taking so long to arrive. He estimated it was about 15 minutes. In a clip of the radio played in court, he noted the sound of his voice, and how he appeared "greatly concerned" because McClain was not speaking as clearly and was less interactive.
After paramedics arrived, he said his concern for McClain's condition continued, but at that point, the paramedics were the medical experts at the scene.
During a cross-examination by senior prosecutor Jason Slothouber, Leonard said the top priorities for the APD is officer safety, suspect safety and safety to the public. He also confirmed that when confronting a suspect, it is mandatory, when practicable, for APD to to use de-escalation techniques, like a conversation, before going hands-on with a person. He also said that the paramedics are the ones who decide what medications to administer, while law enforcement is the one in charge of scene safety and control of a suspect.
Slothouber asked if the only way for Aurora Fire Rescue to know what had happened to a suspect, like any medical events, is if they are alerted by the officers who originally responded to the scene. Leonard said yes, adding that he had told the paramedics about the carotid hold, McClain's loss of consciousness and him vomiting.
After the paramedics had injected the ketamine, McClain was angled downward, with both shoulders on or near the grass, Leonard said. It appeared like his stomach was flat on the ground, he said. He said this is the prone position — not the recovery position. He said he never saw Woodyard holding McClain in the prone position. However, he noted that Aurora Fire Rescue was in charge of the scene at this point, though he added that police are in charge of how a person is restrained. He said officers could have put McClain back in the recovery position after the injection.
During a redirect following the mid-morning break, Leonard said he didn't put McClain into the recovery position himself because he was having discussions with the several other people who were at the scene, and other officers were with McClain. Aurora police have "no medical training," he said, aside from using tourniquets and some CPR, but officers are not trained on treatments.
He recalled being concerned about seeing vomit in McClain's mask at the scene, but not thinking about any medical treatments or issues that could be connected to it, since police officers are not medical experts.
Judge Mark D. Warner, who had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, then called for an early lunch recess and the jury was dismissed.
After that, Judge Warner reminded Woodyard that he has the opportunity to testify, should he want to, and that the jury cannot infer any guilt based on his decision.
Woodyard confirmed he had decided to testify.
At this point, defense attorney Downing stated that the defense had seen a pattern of objections in the trial that had become "exhaustive" and "compromising (to the) constitutional presentation of the defense." She said they had asked for a mistrial on Tuesday and wanted to further explain the defense's reasoning for the request.
The prosecution argued against this. Judge Warner ultimately decided that there would not be a mistrial as of now. The rest of the courtroom then broke for lunch.
DEFENDANT NATHAN WOODYARD TAKES TO THE STAND: "I THOUGHT HE WAS SAFE"
After the lunch recess, the defense brought the defendant to the stand. Woodyard had stated before the break that he wanted to testify.
His defense attorney Downing started by asking a few questions about his background and how he got into police work.
Woodyard, who grew up in Aurora, said he attended the city's Smoky Hill High School and went to college at Metro State University, where he studied criminal justice. Out of high school, he was in the Marine Corp before going to college full time. He joined the police academy in October 2016 and graduated in May 2017.
He said his father was a police officer and he remembered going on ride-alongs with him when he was a teenager. He said he looked up to his dad and the other officers.
By the time he was 9 or 10 years old, he knew he wanted to become a police officer.
As an adult, he applied to several different police departments — including Lakewood, Boulder, Denver, Littleton and Aurora — but ultimately decided on Aurora because it was the city he worked in and where he grew up, he said.
When asked if he remembered the night of Aug. 24, 2019, Woodyard said he did. At the time, he had been an active duty officer for about two years.
That evening, he was working APD district two's graveyard shift and the call was in his area. He remembered that he hadn't even left the station yet.
Woodyard said he was the first officer to contact McClain at the scene. He testified that he believed he was in contact with McClain for about five minutes total that night, but that time moved both quickly and slowly in his mind.
Defense attorney Downing asked if Woodyard would change his approach to McClain that evening if he could go back in time knowing what he knows now. Woodyard said yes. He also said in retrospect, he could have talked with McClain more before putting his hands on him.
Downing asked about one of Woodyard's statement — one that had been discussed at length in the trial — heard on the BWC video of “stop or I’m going to have to change the situation.” He said this while trying to control McClain. She asked him to explain what his statement meant. Woodyard said he had recently taken a KOGA course (arrest control training) that went over search techniques and he learned that if you're unable to use a proper search technique, you need to change the situation to get a suspect in handcuffs, he said. Woodyard said he was not trying to scare McClain with the statement, but they were both talking over each other in even tones and he wanted to say something to elicit a response and started a conversation.
When the three officers moved McClain from a rocky area to the grass with intentions to take him to the ground, Woodyard said he noticed that Rosenblatt's camera was turned off. Woodyard said he turned on the officer's camera.
Woodyard said around then, he heard Roedema say, "He just grabbed your gun, dude" just after McClain had said, "I intend to take my power back."
Defense attorney Downing asked what Woodyard was thinking in that moment.
"I was expecting to get shot and I thought I’d never see my wife again," he said. "... Before that moment, it was police work. Something I would expect, though I hadn’t experienced it before. I felt that I was reasonably safe. Once I heard Roedema say, ‘He tried to grab your gun,’ I thought I was in true danger.... I thought he was trying to get a gun to harm somebody. Me. The other officers.”
He confirmed he did not know if the gun grab allegation was true.
Immediately after that, Woodyard remembered that all four people were on the ground within a matter of seconds.
“With how quickly it happened, I only know I fell backwards," he said. "I don’t know how everybody else got to the ground.”
He said his glasses were knocked off, but he could still see OK and knew the struggle was still happening.
“At that point, I didn't know if he had successfully retrieved the gun, or if the other officers were fighting over a gun in the holster," Woodyard testified. "My first thought was, ‘This needs to end immediately.’”
He called for help on his radio and decided to apply the carotid hold to McClain.
“There’s very few things that you can do to somebody that we’re trained on to stop their actions immediately, the carotid control hold being one of them," he said. "So when I applied it, I was attempting to get him to give up or render him unconscious so he could stop fighting for a gun and so we could put him in handcuffs.... In that moment leading up to me applying the carotid, there was a lot that I didn't know. I didn't know if a gun was out of the holster, if at any second it would start going off.”
Woodyard said he was also thinking of the other officers and how they might react. He said he thought the other officers might shoot McClain.
As he applied the hold, he asked Rosenblatt and Roedema to watch McClain and alert him once he had gone unconscious, which was a few seconds later. Then, the officers tried to handcuff McClain, which was the primary concern at the time because Woodyard said he believed McClain might have tried to get a gun from an officer.
Woodyard said he had never used the carotid hold in the field before and did not take it lightly.
After the hold and McClain regained consciousness, Woodyard recalled that he was telling police his name, saying that he was not armed and that he doesn't "do those kinds of things."
Downing asked about the last statement he remembered hearing from McClain.
“I remember him saying he couldn't breathe," Woodyard answered, adding this was concerning because he knew it could indicate a medical emergency.
Woodyard said he knew McClain still had his mask on, so he took it off and threw it on the grass in case that was the cause of his breathing struggles.
"It’s very important to help at that moment," he said. "So, we’re taught to put people on their sides. It helps their chest expand in order to facilitate breathing. Because the mask was on, I thought that was hindering it.”
McClain was then put in the recovery position. Woodyard said he didn't recall McClain saying he was struggling to breathe anytime after the mask was removed. Because he was talking in full sentences at the time, he said he never checked McClain's pulse.
Once Sgt. Leonard arrived at the scene, Woodyard said he told him that they had applied the carotid hold on McClain.
Woodyard left McClain with the two other officers around this time to speak with Sgt. Rachel Nunez, his direct supervisor.
"After all of this, could you continue about your duties?" Downing asked.
Woodyard said no. When asked why, he said he was anticipating possibly being shot and dying. He was asked about how he felt in that moment.
“I felt overwhelmed," he said. "I felt scared.”
Downing questioned if he was trying to process what had happened and Woodyard said yes.
“I didn’t feel, in my current state of mind, I would be able to carry on handling this call... I was still trying to calm myself down," Woodyard said. "And I didn’t know what to do... It was very emotional. I was very scared in that moment. And I couldn’t just return to a matter-of-fact and go about handling a call.”
Because he felt like he was more of a hindrance at the scene at that point in time, he said he walked away to talk with Sgt. Nunez. Knowing McClain had just been in the recovery position, and officers were with him, he said "I thought he was safe" and he trusted the other officers would take care of McClain.
"Did they?" Downing asked.
"No. I know that now," Woodyard replied.
During his conversation with Sgt. Nunez, he said he began to cry — something that had only happened while he was on duty once prior. She told him to collect himself and take some breaths, so he went to his car to calm down, he said. In the car, he said he "cried some more. I think I tried to call my wife.”
Downing asked what about the situation had shook him.
"The feeling that I was going to die and that I wouldn’t see my wife again and that I had to use a high degree of force to stop that from happening," he answered, adding he was concerned about the amount of force he had used on McClain.
When he rejoined the scene, Aurora Fire Rescue and paramedics had arrived.
“I had calmed down enough to continue to try and assist or run the call," Woodyard said.
He saw that a gurney was out and remembered thinking that paramedics were treating McClain and that that was a good thing.
“When I returned, I saw other officers were already with him on the ground, so unless there was a specific reason to relieve them, I didn’t think I needed to jump in and assist," he said.
Defense attorney Downing asked three quick questions at the conclusion of her direct examination. She asked if Woodyard had thought about this case in the last four years and if he could go back in time, would he do things differently. He said yes to both.
When asked if he ever believed McClain was in danger of dying, he said no.
Senior prosecutor Jason Slothouber then cross-examined Woodyard, starting with the second to last question the defense had asked him: "If you could go back, would you do things differently?"
Slothouber rattled through a list of things that Woodyard would have done differently if he could go back in time. That included telling the other officers and Sgt. Leonard that McClain couldn't breathe, noting aloud that McClain had thrown up in his mask when he said he couldn't breathe, initially approaching McClain differently and not grabbing him within a couple seconds, trying to talk with McClain instead of moving him to the grass, and applying the carotid hold.
The prosecutor then ran through a timeline of events, starting with when Woodyard first contacted McClain. He said when he first told McClain to stop, McClain did not turn or run away from him and instead said "I have a right to walk where I'm going." He recalled taking a few steps and then grabbing McClain.
Slothouber asked about APD's policy to de-escalate whenever practical, which Woodyard said is required, but added that he did not know if McClain was armed, though there was no obvious threat. He agreed that it would have been more practical to start a conversation with McClain.
"You can understand why McClain was scared right here?" Slothouber asked, following a BWC video that was played in court. Woodyard said he would.
When discussing the alleged gun grab, Woodyard confirmed that if there is a suspicion that somebody has a gun, officers are trained to make that crystal clear to others at the scene. He also said officers are trained to know that just because a person can talk doesn't mean they can breathe, and if a person complains of being unable to breathe, that must be communicated to the fire department. Woodyard said he did not tell Sgt. Leonard or Sgt. Nunez about McClain's repeated complaints about his breathing issues.
Slothouber asked if the only way for the paramedics to know of in-custody complaints is if they are told about it. In other words, police must tell paramedics about any medical issues that happened before they arrived. Woodyard confirmed this.
The final action of the day was the redirect.
Woodyard explained that he and Rosenblatt stepped away from the scene to speak for a brief time because there were some administrative tasks left to do, like writing reports. He said it is customary for officers to discuss dividing up those responsibilities. This was not captured on BWC video.
Defense attorney Downing also confirmed that during the time Woodyard was near McClain, he was in the recovery position. According to the BWC footage, during the times McClain was not in that position, Woodyard was not nearby.
Finally, she asked Woodyard who administered the ketamine and if police could have stopped it. Woodyard said the paramedics did, and police could not have changed their decision. He said he did not know the paramedics would give an injection containing 1.8 times the appropriate amount of ketamine for a person McClain's size.
Court will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE TRIAL OF OFFICER WOODYARD
Day 1 — Tuesday, Oct. 17
Day 2 - Wednesday, Oct. 18
Day 3 - Thursday, Oct. 19
Day 4 - Friday, Oct. 20
(No court on Monday, Oct. 23)
Day 5 - Tuesday, Oct. 24
Day 6 - Wednesday, Oct. 25
(No court on Thursday, Oct. 26)
Day 7 - Friday, Oct. 27
(No court on Monday, Oct. 30)
Day 8 - Tuesday, Oct. 31
Day 9 - Wednesday, Nov. 1 (this story)
