On Monday, Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard was acquitted of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in connection with the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, was walking home at night when a confrontation with first responders ultimately resulted in his tragic passing.
Woodyard is among three Aurora police officers and two paramedics charged in McClain’s 2019 death. The trial against the two other officers resulted in a split verdict last month with one convicted of homicide and one acquitted. The paramedics’ trial is scheduled to begin later this month. Woodyard’s trial stretched across several weeks and the jury deliberated for what added up to about a day-and-a-half before reaching their verdict in the afternoon on Monday. Aurora police officer
During the trial, the prosecution consistently contended that Officer Nathan Woodyard approached Elijah McClain within just 8 seconds of exiting his patrol car, without introducing himself or providing any explanation for the interaction. The encounter with McClain had arisen from an emergency call reporting him as suspicious due to wearing a mask. Body camera footage presented in the trial showed McClain appearing taken aback and attempting to continue walking when Woodyard approached him.
The prosecution argued that Woodyard’s actions led to an escalation of the situation and that he failed to heed McClain’s words, disregarding the police department’s de-escalation policy.
Woodyard put McClain in a neck hold that rendered him temporarily unconscious after he said he believed McClain had reached for one of the officers’ guns — a claim prosecutors disputed.