MANSFIELD, Ohio — The retrial of a former Richland County corrections officer accused of causing an inmate's death began in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas on Monday.
Jury selection started Monday afternoon and is expected to continue Tuesday.
Mark Cooper is accused of one count of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony,. He is also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one a third-degree felony, the other a first-degree felony.
The charges stem from Cooper's role in the death of Alexander Rios, 28, on September 19, 2019. Cooper was one of several corrections officers who subdued Rios after he ran out of his holding cell.
Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson declared a mistrial last November after the jury failed to reach a verdict during the initial trial.
READ MORE: Judge declares mistrial in case of former Richland corrections officer
Prosecutors with the Ohio Attorney General's office are now handling the case. Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson tried the first case.
Video evidence
Uncovering video of the incident played a crucial role in learning what happened.
The video begins with officers ordering Rios to come down from a divider inside his jail cell. Rios refuses but does not threaten to jump or cause harm.
According to records, Sgt. Jamaal O'Dell said he began recording the video on a hand-held camera after he was called to assist officers who were trying to get Rios to come down.
O'Dell tells Rios he is going to open his cell door to put him in a restraint chair. At 53 seconds into the video, officers open the cell door. Rios darts out of his cell and past the officers.
Within 10 seconds, Rios is tackled by two officers. Two more officers respond to help restrain him. O'Dell hands the camera to a female officer so he can also assist in restraining Rios.
At 1:20 seconds into the video, the female officer encourages the officers to use more force on Rios, even as the five male officers are on the ground restraining Rios. She shouted, "Tase him! Tase him!"
At least twice, Rios is tased. Rios moans in pain. Rios said, "I'm not even fighting."Another officer asked, "Should we tase him again?" The female officer replies, "You need to."However, no one uses their taser this time.
Instead, one of the officers, who has been pressing Rios's head into the concrete floor, punches Rios in the head.
Then, at two minutes and 45 seconds into the video, another officer, who placed his right foot on Rios’s right shoulder blade, lifts his left foot off the ground. The officer's full body weight is on Rios for seven seconds. Prosecutors say the officer was Mark Cooper.
At some point two minutes into the video, Rios becomes unconscious. None of the officers appear to notice. Instead, they continue shouting commands at Rios.
At close to five minutes, the officers attempted to lift Rios into a restraint chair."Get up!" shouted one officer as they lifted Rios into a restraint chair. Another officer said, "He's turning blue. He's turning blue."The female officer shouted, "He's turning blue!" She immediately calls for an ambulance. The officers place Rios on his side.
One officer said, “Try to get him some oxygen, make sure everything’s going okay for him,” Rios' family said he never regained consciousness after the incident. They removed him from life support a week later.
WATCH VIDEO HERE: A Fatal Five Minutes: Family wants answers after Richland jail video shows critical moments before his death
