Colorado's law enforcement officers will no longer recognize 'excited delirium'

Colorado’s law enforcement officers will no longer recognize “excited delirium” after a state regulatory board voted to strike the controversial diagnosis on Friday from all training documents starting in January.

The move, which was passed at the state Peace Officers Standards and Training board meeting unanimously and without debate, comes as two Aurora paramedics face felony charges for giving Elijah McClain, an unarmed, innocent Black man, an overdose of ketamine, in part, because they believed he was suffering from the condition.

Advocates have long been critical of the diagnosis, which was mostly a law enforcement term used to characterize suspects acting hyperactive or agitated during police encounters.

The term has a history of being racially charged: The Virginia Law Review looked at 166 in-custody deaths between 2010 and 2020 and found that 56 percent attributed “excited delirium” to Black and Latino victims. Critics say the diagnosis is often used to absolve law enforcement from culpability when someone dies in custody.

https://www.cpr.org/2023/12/01/colorado-strikes-excited-delirium-as-law-enforcement-diagnosis/

No shit, Sherlock, it's a junk diagnosis anyway.