BRIGHTON, Colo. — Two paramedics on trial in Elijah McClain’s death made statements in 2019 police interviews that contradict body camera footage prosecutors have played for the jury.

Those interviews played for nearly two hours Wednesday morning in a hushed Adams County courtroom during what turned out to be a short day of testimony.

Just before the lunch break, the judge learned that one juror may have COVID-19 and called off court for the rest of the day. Then late in the afternoon, it was announced that testimony would not resume until 8:30 a.m. Friday.

On Thursday, the Colorado judicial branch announced on a social media post on X the trial would be delayed until Monday morning “due to health concerns, in the interest of the wellbeing of the jury, and with the input of the parties.”

Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper each face a charge of reckless manslaughter and multiple counts of assault in the death of McClain, who a 911 caller said was wearing a mask and seemed “sketchy.” Responding Aurora police officers stopped him, restrained and subdued him – and then Cichuniec and Cooper injected him with the sedative ketamine, which has been blamed for his death.

Aurora police investigator Matt Ingui testified that he interviewed Cichuniec and Cooper on Sept. 11, 2019 – 18 days after the incident.

At one point in the recording, Ingui asked Cichuniec whether he communicated with McClain.

“He wouldn’t speak to us,” Cichuniec responded.

The investigator asked a similar question of Cooper.

Prosecutors have alleged that neither Cichuniec nor Cooper ever attempted to assess McClain’s medical condition before giving him a potentially deadly drug – and that they failed to take even the most basic step of trying to talk to him.

And body camera footage played for the jury showed that the closest the paramedics got to talking to McClain was when Cooper asked the officers subduing him whether “he speaks English or anything like that?”

“He speaks English,” one of the officers responded.

Cichuniec and Cooper talked extensively about their decision to administer ketamine.

That decision came after they concluded that McClain was exhibiting signs of so-called “excited delirium,” a term used to describe an out-of-control person who isn’t responding to others – for reasons that could include the use of drugs or mental illness.

For more on this story, and others, visit The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS.com.