Aurora police officer acquitted in Elijah McClain's death resigns from the department

An Aurora police officer who was charged but then cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the death of Elijah McClain has resigned from the department.

Former officer Nathan Woodyard was found not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in McClain's death. Upon his acquittal in November, Woodyard returned to the department, and the city was required to pay him $212,546.04 in backpay while not on the force during the trial. He resigned late last week, the city told CBS News Colorado on Tuesday.

Aurora Police Officer Jason Rosenblatt was also acquitted, but Officer Randy Roedema and Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were convicted of criminally negligent homicide of McClain, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man. The juries in those cases agreed with prosecutors that the ketamine administered by the paramedics led to McClain's death.

Contact information for Woodyard could not be located through public records so he couldn't be reached for comment about his resignation.

The killing of McClain received widespread publicity inside and outside of Colorado and led to large-scale protests and reforms in Aurora's police department.