Friends Of Shoplifting Suspect Allege Racism Led To Death After He Was Put In Choke Hold -- Store Employee, Bystanders Subdued Man

Antonio Jackson's family is trying to make sense of his death, but friends say he died a victim of racism.

Jackson, an African American shopping in Federal Way's Twin Lakes, was suspected of shoplifting a package of cigarettes Tuesday from a Safeway store. After a chase, the store employees and bystanders piled on top of Jackson, and one employee put him in a choke hold, police said. Jackson died at the scene.

The exact cause of his death has not been determined. Police, who arrived on the scene after Jackson was already on the ground, say race played no part in their handling of the incident. A King County police spokesman said the officer arrived to a chaotic scene and that Jackson's friends hindered his efforts to get it under control.

Jackson had left the Los Angeles area four years ago to escape the violence that had claimed the lives of many friends, said Debra Bobo, the mother of Jackson's fiancee. Yesterday Jackson's family members gathered in Bobo's Pacific apartment to talk, not so much about a death they can't quite understand but about his life.

Jackson, 25, was a handyman and earlier this month celebrated the first birthday of his daughter, Ebony. Jackson and Ebony's mother, Malyka Bobo, 18, were due to marry next summer. Jackson also had a 6-year-old son in Los Angeles.

"We're all trying to keep one another strong," Debra Bobo said. "That's all we can do."

Friends of Jackson in Des Moines said his death seemed all the more senseless because he was not the type to get in trouble.

"He never got into fights, out of all of us," Raymond Hicks said. "He was more of the humorous type."

Hicks knew Jackson for 15 years. The two went to junior and senior high school together, and Hicks moved to Washington largely because of Jackson's encouragement.

When Jackson was younger, Hicks said, he was so skinny his friends called him "T-bone." The name stuck with him, even as he reached 230 pounds.

The two were together shortly before Jackson's death. They were planning to cook dinner at another friend's house, Hicks said, and Jackson went to get some food.

"Damn, I'm going to miss him," Hicks said. "He always kept you laughing. Everything he did, even eating, he did in a playful way."

At the Safeway store Tuesday, an African-American security guard and two white store employees chased Jackson down the street. The employees and two bystanders jumped on Jackson, but the guard did not, according to police.

Mona McKoy said she and her husband, Trevor, friends of Jackson's, were driving by and ran to the scene. They said one man had his right arm around Jackson's throat, the crook of his elbow at Jackson's Adam's apple, his left hand supporting his right.

"You're choking him. He can't breathe, he can't breathe," Mona McKoy remembered yelling.

Trevor McKoy said he pulled some of the men off Jackson, and his wife attempted CPR. At that point, she said, Jackson was gurgling and gasping for air.

When a King County police officer arrived, Mona McKoy said, he told her to get up, flipped Jackson onto his stomach and handcuffed him. She said the officer kept asking, "Where's the gun? Where's the gun?" and telling him to get up because he was going to jail. When Jackson appeared limp, bystanders said he was "faking it," she said.

When the McKoys, who are black, said they pleaded for the officer to help him, he told them to get back and threatened to send the couple to jail, she said.

"The officer believed the white people yelling that Antonio was faking it but he wouldn't believe us that Antonio needed help," she said.

King County police Maj. Bob Evans of the Federal Way Precinct said it didn't happen that way. When the officer arrived, Evans said, a bystander told him Jackson might have a gun. Another bystander said Trevor McKoy was on his way to a car to get a gun.

"All he sees is chaos," Evans said.

The officer didn't know whether the McKoys were part of the alleged theft; shoplifters often work in rings, Evans said. What he did know was that if a gun was involved, his first priority was to keep it from going off.

Evans said the officer checked Jackson's pulse and that he was still breathing. Suspects frequently pretend to be unconscious, he said, in order to catch police off guard. He said the McKoys were screaming so loudly "they didn't allow the officer to do his job."

Evans said he would have done the same thing in the officer's shoes.

"It's easy to say this is a black-and-white scene, but race had nothing to do with it," he said.

Nick Suckow, 15, of Federal Way, who happened to be experimenting with a new video camera and filmed part of the struggle, confirmed the officer said he found a pulse. Suckow also said he saw the officer attempt to lift Jackson at least a few times but that Jackson flopped over.

The McKoys have not expressed concern to police, according to Detective Paul Mahlum of the police internal-investigation unit. An investigation will not be conducted unless an officer or citizen files a complaint, he said.

Police spokesman Dave Robinson said detectives still were interviewing witnesses. He said a decision about the store employee's culpability in Jackson's death will likely not be made until Medical Examiner Donald Reay completes toxicology tests, which may take two weeks.

A Safeway spokeswoman said the company is reviewing what happened and that the employee who allegedly choked Jackson is on leave.

Frank Hernandez, a security guard with Northwest Protective Services, which patrols the Twin Lakes Safeway, said guards have the option of restraining suspects who become aggressive and that store employees may be called in to assist. He added, however, that the policy is to "use the least possible force." Hernandez was not on duty the night Jackson died.

Hicks, Jackson's longtime friend, organized a memorial for Jackson today at the spot where he died. Hicks wants the gathering to call attention to Jackson's death and perhaps shake loose some answers about why it happened.

"They convicted him and gave him the death penalty," Hicks said. "We can only draw our own conclusions if we don't know what happened, and they're not telling us anything."

Information from Seattle Times South bureau reporter Wayne Wurzer is included in this report.