PONTIAC, Michigan — A man pinned to the ground by security guards at a Detroit-area mall repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe,” before the confrontation ended in his death, a witness testified Tuesday, more than 10 years later.
McKenzie Cochran, 25, screamed at the Northland Center in Southfield in 2014 as guards tried to handcuff him and repeatedly told him to “stop resisting,” according to Hoy Monk II, who worked at a Foot Locker store.
Three guards — John Seiberling, Gaven King and Aaron Maree — are charged with involuntary manslaughter.
In addition to Monk’s statement on the second day of the trial, jurors were also shown a dark, grainy video of the confrontation, as well as video footage recorded by bystanders.
It began when Cochran refused to leave the mall after tensions with a jewelry store owner. A security guard pepper-sprayed Cochran, who was then thrown to the ground.
The conflict escalated and involved five guards trying to hold Cochran down despite him saying at least three times that he couldn’t breathe, Monk said.
By the time Cochran was handcuffed and stood up, “I could see his face and his eyes were closed,” Monk testified.
Assistant Attorney General Robyn Liddell asked if the guards had heeded Cochran’s pleas to get off him.
“No,” Monk replied.
Cochran, who had an enlarged heart, died.
One of the five guards pleaded guilty last week. Gary Chaffin, the senior guard who pepper-sprayed Cochran, died in 2017.
Monk saw the confrontation while taking a break on a bench. During cross-examination, he agreed when a defense attorney said that fights, shoplifting and drug use were common at the mall at the time.
“You’re used to seeing strange things in Northland,” Monk said.
At the beginning of the process, Defense attorneys urged jurors Monday to consider each guard individually, saying Cochran was seen as an unstable threat.
In 2014, the then-Oakland County District Attorney declined to file charges, saying the errors did not rise to the level of a crime. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stepped in with her own charges for 2021.
Northland was demolished that year to make way for redevelopment.
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