PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Security guards at a suburban Detroit mall flunked their training and ignored a man's repeated cries for help during an intense physical struggle that caused his death, a prosecutor said Monday as trial opened more than 10 years later. McKenzie Cochran told guards, “I can’t breathe,” while he was being restrained on the floor at Northland Center in 2014, Assistant Attorney General Robyn Liddell told jurors.
“For 11 minutes, the defendants had McKenzie face down on the floor with their collective body weight on top of him,” Liddell said. "For 11 minutes, McKenzie cries. For 11 minutes, McKenzie screams.
“They disregard his pleas. They disregard his cries for help. They disregard the gasps of air,” she said.
Cochran, 25, who had an enlarged heart, died of asphyxiation, according to an autopsy. “It was not a fair fight. It was five against one,” Liddell said, telling jurors that video will be part of the evidence.
John Seiberling, Gaven King and Aaron Maree are charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. Another guard, Lucius Hamilton, pleaded guilty Friday after the judge said she would likely be in favor of a 90-day jail sentence. In 2014, the Oakland County prosecutor at the time declined to file charges after consulting with the U.
S. Justice Department. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stepped in with her own charges in 2021.
The case of Cochran, who was Black, got fresh attent.