PONTIAC (AP) – Four security guards are facing trial this week in the death of a man who was pinned to the ground during a fierce struggle more than 10 years ago at a suburban Detroit shopping mall, United States (US).
McKenzie Cochran, 25, was unarmed and repeatedly told guards, “I can’t breathe,” while face down, following a dispute at a jewellery store inside Northland Center in 2014, witnesses said.
The Oakland County prosecutor at the time declined to file charges after consulting with the US Justice Department. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel intervened in 2021 with involuntary manslaughter charges against four men.
The case of Cochran, who was Black, got fresh attention in 2020 during a local race for prosecutor and amid outrage over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police. Prosecutors have not alleged race to be a factor in Cochran’s death.
Defence attorney Blake Wright said the guards were moving ahead with their lives when the case was suddenly revived. “It’s a politicisation of the criminal justice system,” Wright told The Associated Press. “This clearly stems from what happened with George Floyd and police misconduct across the nation. This case is just totally different from any of those.
These are security guards just trying to subdue a guy who had mental health problems.”
But Gerald Thurswell, an attorney who represented Cochran’s family in a lawsuit, said video of the struggle will be strong evidence. “You don’t kill somebody because they’re acting weird. That’s what happened here: He was acting weird. He was acting strange,” Thurswell said.
State prosecutors allege the guards used excessive force by restraining Cochran while he lay face down on the floor for up to 15 minutes.
Cochran, who had an enlarged heart, died of asphyxiation In court filings, defence lawyers argued the men – John Seiberling, Gaven King, Aaron Maree and Lucius Hamilton – acted in self-defence during a chaotic time.
