ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A man who filed an excessive force lawsuit related to his 2019 arrest by Arapahoe County deputies has pleaded guilty to charges related to the case.
Elijah McKnight pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of assault on a peace officer and one count of third-degree assault. Three other counts were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
He was granted a deferred sentence and will avoid jail time while serving 24 months of probation, court records show.
Two Arapahoe County deputies encountered McKnight on Aug. 20, 2019 unconscious at a bus stop. As they contacted him, they learned he was wanted on two warrants.
>The video above is from 2020, when the federal lawsuit was filed.
At some point, according to a lawsuit filed by McKnight in 2020, one of the deputies initiated physical contact in an effort to arrest him. During a struggle that followed, McKnight was injected with ketamine by a South Metro Fire Rescue paramedic, the lawsuit alleged.
As part of a settlement, South Metro Fire Rescue agreed to pay $115,000 related to their paramedics' use of ketamine.
According to court records, in April of this year, a settlement was reached with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office related to the case.
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