The 23-year-old black man died after paramedics administered the powerful anesthetic during a confrontation with police.
The Department of Public Health and Environment, which certifies emergency medical services, He said in a statement Wednesday that he is investigating “numerous complaints” that provided new information “about a ketamine administration in August 2019.”
On August 24, 2019, McClain was detained by three white officers from Denver suburb Aurora while walking home from a convenience store. A person who called 911 had reported a “suspicious person,” according to a police description of the incident.
McClain resisted contact with officers, according to the report, and there was a fight. In an officer’s body camera, McClain was heard saying, “I’m an introvert, respect the limits I’m talking about.”
McClain was heard telling officers that he was trying to stop his music to listen to them when they began arresting him. An officer was heard saying to another, “He just grabbed your gun, buddy.”
The video showed an officer fighting McClain on the ground.
At one point, an officer said to McClain, “If you keep playing, I’m going to take my dog out and he will bite you.”
An officer placed McClain in a carotid cellar, or strangler, and passed out briefly, according to the report. When the cellar was released, McClain started fighting again.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and administered ketamine to sedate McClain, according to the report. McClain suffered a heart attack while in an ambulance, and was declared brain dead three days later, according to a letter from the district attorney.
An autopsy did not determine the cause of death, but listed intense physical exertion and a narrow left coronary artery as contributing factors, according to the police summary. The coroner found that the amount of ketamine in his system is a therapeutic amount.
Adams County District Attorney Dave Young declined to file criminal charges against the officers at the time. In February, a police review board stated that the use of force in the altercation, including strangling, “was within policy and was consistent with training.”
The officers were placed on administrative leave after McClain’s death, but then reinstated after prosecutors refused to press charges.
In June, Governor Jared Polis responded to the public outcry by announcing that his administration was reviewing the case.
“Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe it to his family to take this step and raise the quest for justice on his behalf to state concern,” Polis said in a statement at the time.
More than 2 million people had signed a petition calling for a new investigation into McClain’s death.
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