The First 'I Can't Breathe' Suffocation Murder By Police This Year Was That of McKenzie Cochran, Aged 25: It Took Place In January (Video)

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Mall Security Guards Who Killed Unarmed Black Man Won't Be Charged

By Kate Abbey-Lambertz
A prosecutor announced Thursday [September 19, 2014] that no criminal charges will be brought in the case of an unarmed black man killed while being restrained by mall security guards.

McKenzie Cochran, 25, died at the Northland Mall in the Detroit suburb of Southfield in January. A day after he had been asked to leave the building over suspicious behavior, Cochran returned and reportedly told a worker at a mall jewelry store that he wanted to kill someone. The worker called security, and when Cochran wouldn't leave, guards pepper-sprayed and restrained him. He struggled on the ground as three officers held him for several minutes, one with a knee in his back.

Cell phone video shows Cochran crying out and saying, "I can't breathe," as shown in footage above from local outlet WJBK. He also asked for bystanders to call 911 and said he was dying.

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