NC teen charged after allegedly putting friend in chokehold, killing him

WILKES COUNTY, N.C. (WFMY) — Wilkes County sheriff’s deputies confirmed that 16-year-old Paul Holland Cockeran III has been charged with murder in the death of his 19-year-old friend Dillon Allison.

According to an incident report, around 1 a.m. Sunday the two were smoking pot in a parking lot when Cockeran made a joke about a fight Dillon had previously gotten into, Allison got upset. Allison and Cockeran then got into an argument and Allison left, the sheriff said.

He later came back to Cockeran’s house to get some clothes he had left behind and that is when the two got into a physical fight.

Dillon Allison was killed by a friend who put him in a chokehold, authorities said.

Cockeran put Allison into a chokehold, which caused Allison to become unconscious.

Cockeran tried to do CPR on Allison and after EMS arrived they also tried to do CPR. Once they gained a pulse, Allison was sent to Wilkes Medial Center, then airlifted to Wake Forest Baptist Health. He died Wednesday.

Originally, charges for Cockeran were felony assault for serious injury and felony assault by strangulation. After Allison died, the charges were upgraded to murder, the sheriff says.

Investigators say Cockeran left Wilkes County and went to Michigan in attempt to avoid the law before they were able to serve warrants on him. Officers were able to locate Cockeran in Michigan. He returned on his own to North Carolina and then turned himself in at the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday evening.