According to witnesses, McKenzie Cochran said before his death in the Northland Mall: “I can't breathe”

PONTIAC, Michigan (FOX 2) – More than a decade after the death of McKenzie Cochran in the now-closed Northland Mall, three security guards who pepper-sprayed him and detained him are now on trial.

Cochran, a 25-year-old Ferndale resident, died on January 28, 2014, after five security guards pinned him to the ground and sprayed him with pepper spray for allegedly threatening a jewelry store clerk.

His death was initially ruled an accident and no one was charged until Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reinvestigated the case in 2021.

John Seiberling, Gaven King and Aaron Maree have since been charged with manslaughter. Their trial began on Monday. A fourth guard accused of murder, Lucius Hamilton, has already pleaded guilty. A fifth guard died before charges were filed.

Neihmiah Nelson witnessed the incident and recorded a video that was shown in the courtroom on the second day of the trial.

“I heard him say, 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe,' and one of the security officers put his knee in his back,” Nelson said in his testimony Tuesday. Cochran “just laid on the ground, on his stomach… He was struggling to breathe.”

Hoy Monk Jr. was working at a Foot Locker store in Northland Mall the day of Cochran's death and witnessed guards attempting to arrest the 25-year-old.

“One had his arm wrapped around Cochran's neck,” Monk said on the witness stand. “One was sitting on the back of his legs, holding onto his ankle, and the other three had their hands on his upper back, in the middle.”

McKenzie Cochran is detained by security guards in the now closed Northland Mall.

Monk testified that he also heard Cochran say “I can't breathe” at least three times, but security guards would not let him go.

Prosecutors said security was called when Cochran showed up agitated at the LA Diamond store in the mall.

“He came up to me, said he wanted to kill someone, came straight at me and stared at me,” said former jewelry store employee Labieb Ansara during the trial on Tuesday.

Surveillance video presented to the court showed Ansara jumping up from his seat and calling security.

McKenzie Cochran talking to the jeweler who called security because he allegedly said he “wanted to kill someone.”

Investigators and witnesses say security ordered Cochran to leave, but he refused. The guards then sprayed him with pepper spray and a fight broke out.

“When they got him down, he was fighting with them,” said Earthena Kinney, who also witnessed the incident. “When they got him down again, they had him in their hands. He couldn't get up.”

The prosecution accuses the security forces of not following their own protocol when arresting Cochran.

One of the protocols is to “not have people lying face down or in a manner that might restrict the flow of air through their lungs,” said Neil Webster, former security director at Northland Mall. “That's a condition that leads to positional asphyxia, which is respiratory distress – which can usually lead to death.”

According to an autopsy, compression asphyxia was the exact cause of Cochran's death.

If convicted, each former security officer faces up to 15 years in prison.