An Aurora, Colorado, police officer who is one of five people criminally charged for the 2019 death of Elijah McClain testified in court for the first time this week.
He said he had to remove himself from the scene because he was so overwhelmed after administering a chokehold on the unarmed 5-foot-7, 140-pound Black man the officer says he feared was going to kill him during the confrontation with three cops.
Officer Nathan Woodyard, who is currently suspended from the force, has been on trial since Oct. 17. He has been charged with reckless manslaughter.
Weeks after the trial started, he finally was able to share his account of what happened that night of Aug. 30, 2019.
According to Woodyard, looking back on the night, he profoundly regrets his decision to employ a carotid hold, a maneuver that cut off blood flow to the 23-year-old’s brain, briefly causing McClain to lose consciousness before he later would be administered a fatal dose of ketamine by paramedics officers called to the scene.
The Aurora Police Department officer took the stand on Wednesday, Nov. 1, stating he had to leave the other officers and McClain to regain his composure after administering the hold. He also admitted that he did not follow a number of training protocols and requirements mandated by his department.
Woodyard tearfully detailed a litany of things he did wrong and said he wished he had done things differently, including putting his hands on McClain within eight seconds of getting out of his patrol car.
Woodyard, the first person confronting McClain during that deadly encounter, was stopping him because a 911 caller claimed the slender African-American looked “sketchy” as he was walking home and waving his arms while listening to music on his earbuds.
WATCH BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE HERE
Another revelation Woodyard made on the stand is that he regretted trusting his fellow officers to “take care” of McClain.
Woodyard said he…
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