Witnesses testify McKenzie Cochran said 'I can't breathe' before his death at Northland Mall

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - Over a decade since the death of McKenzie Cochran at the now-closed Northland Mall, three security guards who took part in macing and holding him down are now on trial.

The trial is scheduled to continue at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Watch live above.

Cochran, who was a 25-year-old Ferndale resident, died on January 28, 2014 after five security guards pinned him to the floor and pepper-sprayed him for allegedly making threats to a jewelry store clerk.

His death was originally ruled as accidental, and no one was charged until Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel re-examined the case in 2021. 

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

Neihmiah Nelson witnessed and recorded a video of the incident – which was shown in the courtroom on day two of the trial.

"I heard him saying 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe' and one of the security had his knee in his back," Nelson said in his testimony on Tuesday. Cochran was "just lying on the ground, on his stomach… He was struggling to breathe."

Hoy Monk Jr. was working at a Foot Locker store at Northland Mall the day Cochran died, and also witnessed guards attempting to detain the 25-year-old. 

"There was one who had his arm wrapped around (Cochran's neck) area," Monk said on the stand. "There was one who was sitting on the back of his legs, holding his ankle area, and the other three had their hands on the top of (his) back, on the middle area."

McKenzie Cochran being detained by security guards at the now-shuttered Northland Mall.

Monk testified that he also heard Cochran say "I can't breathe" at least three times, but the security guards did not get off of him. 

Prosecutors say security was summoned when Cochran showed up at the L.A. Diamond store in the mall and appeared to be agitated.

"He was walking up, said he wanted to kill someone, and came right directly and started staring at me," said the jewelry store's former clerk, Labieb Ansara, during the trial on Tuesday.

Security footage presented in court showed Ansara leaping from his seat and calling security guards. 

McKenzie Cochran speaking to the jewelry store clerk who called security on him for allegedly saying he "wanted to kill someone."

Investigators and witnesses say security asked Cochran to leave, but he refused. The guards then sprayed him with mace, and a struggle ensued. 

"When they first got him down, he was fighting with them," said Earthena Kinney, who also saw the incident unfold. "When they got him back down, they had him. He couldn't get back up"

Prosecutors allege the security guards did not follow their own protocol in detaining Cochran.

One of the protocols is to "avoid leaving people lying face down or hunched over in any way that could restrict the flow of air through their lungs," said the former security director at Northland Mall, Neil Webster. "That's a condition that leads to positional asphyxiation, which is the inability to breathe – which typically can result in death."

Compression asphyxiation was the exact cause of Cochran's death, according to an autopsy.

Each former security guard faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.