TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Four employees of the Troy Oxford Center face murder charges in connection with the death of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper, who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion earlier this year.
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Prosecutors continued building their case Tuesday, portraying what they say was a serious lack of safety standards at the Troy Oxford Center.
The four Oxford Center team members facing charges are CEO Tamela Peterson, manager Gary Marken, operator Aleta Moffitt, and safety director Jeffrey Mosteller. All face second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in Cooper's death.
Previous report: Tense day in court during hearing in hyperbaric chamber explosion hearing
Tuesday's witnesses included hyperbaric medicine expert Andrew Melnyczenko, who faced heated exchanges with the defense during cross-examination.
"In this article that talks about fires that allegedly started by static electricity, is there any discussion about whether or not patients in those fires were wearing wrist straps?" an attorney asked.
"Not that I can recall," Melnyczenko said.
"But it does not mean that they were not," he added.
"Do you feel better now having said that?" the attorney responded.
Troy Police Detective Ryan Whiteside also testified Tuesday. He reviewed video of all of Cooper's therapy sessions, including the day of the explosion.
"There were 35 reviewed treatments between Dec. 9 and Jan. 31. There was one video, one treatment that it appeared that Thomas was patted down. and they appeared to be searching if he had anything on him he wasn't supposed to," Whiteside said.
A third Troy Police detective, who is currently working an undercover case and was not shown on camera, recounted what she saw at the scene shortly after the explosion.
"Once we entered the building, there were some fire department members that were inside an area that contained three hyperbaric chambers. I was unaware of what they were at the time. The middle of those chambers was visibly very burnt. There was what appeared to be a gurney partially pulled out of that chamber with the corpse of a small child," she said.
The preliminary hearing will continue Dec. 12, when a judge is expected to decide if the case will go to trial.
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