In the News: Rachel Moran on Minnesota’s New Police Training Ordinance – Newsroom

Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, recently spoke with MinnPost about a new law banning the use of “excited delirium” in police training statewide.

Agitated delirium refers to a description of a state of extreme agitation, aggression, excitability, and restlessness in a person, sometimes in association with drug use. The term has been widely used in the past by law enforcement, paramedics, and medical examiners to describe individuals who died in police custody. …

In 2019, 23-year-old Elijah McCain, who was black, was forcibly restrained and injected with ketamine by paramedics in Colorado. McCain died in custody, with paramedics listing the cause of death as agitated delirium. Attorneys for the Minneapolis police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd have also used the term in their legal defense.

Since then, more and more legal experts have been writing about why using misdiagnosis is problematic and rooted in racism, said Rachel Moran, founder of the criminal and juvenile defense clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. As more states ban the term and the public becomes more aware of its rejection by most major medical associations, the hope is that it will stop being used to justify deaths in police custody.

“I think it’s quite possible that lawyers will be better prepared to explain why this isn’t a true diagnosis, and some judges will simply prevent people from using it as an excuse,” Moran said. “The more awareness, the better.”