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 …