Death of Mario Gonzalez

On May 7, the Alameda County Sheriff’s office requested outside agencies to assist in reviewing Gonzalez autopsy, citing the need for "public trust."[37]

An autopsy report was issued on December 10, 2021, naming Gonzalez's death a homicide, with methamphetamine toxicity as the leading cause. Attorneys for his family dispute this, stating that Gonzalez would not have died were it not for being restrained in a prone position, with multiple officers on his back, for over five minutes. [13]

On April 30, the Gonzalez family's lawyer announced the family would be filing a civil rights lawsuit against the Alameda Police Department. The family stated Gonzalez complied with the officers, and the actions of the police violated his rights.[38]

On April 30, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for an FBI investigation.[39] LULAC president Domingo Garcia wrote, "We understand that the Alameda County Sheriff, the Alameda County District Attorney, and the City of Alameda are conducting independent investigations. We expect that those investigations will focus on the Use of Force by those officers in a criminal context. This is a request for an investigation into whether Mr. Gonzalez’ Civil Rights were violated by these officers. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and in consideration of the Georgia Sheriff who was recently indicted April 27, 2021 on use of unreasonable force found in an FBI Civil Rights Violation investigation. We urge you to complete an investigation into the matter of Mario Gonzalez as soon as practicable.”[40]

Gonzalez's brother stated, "Everything we saw in that video was unnecessary and unprofessional. The police killed my brother in the same manner that they killed George Floyd."[41] Gonzalez's mother said, "He's a lovely guy. He's respectful, all the time. They broke my family for no reason."[30] The family also blamed the police for Gonzalez's death, saying the "police escalated what should have been a minor, peaceful encounter" with an unarmed man.[42] Julia Sherwin, a lawyer representing the Gonzalez family, stated, "His death was completely avoidable and unnecessary. Drunk guy in a park doesn't equal a capital sentence."[43]

Protests occurred in Alameda, where activists marched in the same neighborhood where Gonzalez died. The group of activists hoped to “wake up” the neighborhood and demand "white people stop calling the police on Black and brown people."[44] Activists released a statement saying, "Your irrational fear — which is truly about power, control, and domination — stole Mario’s life from his son, his brothers, his mother."[45] On May 3, around a hundred students from Oakland Technical High School marched in honor of Gonzalez; the students began at Oscar Grant Plaza and ended at the Alameda Police Department.[46]

Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina criticized the officers' actions as "the worst thing that could have happened," he stated, "Once they're controlling him, as we learned from the Floyd trial with all those medical experts, this position or compression is deadly. Obviously he's in some sort of mental crisis, and what's the goal? What are they trying to do with him? Was he a danger?"[47]

Ed Obayashi, a Northern California sheriff's deputy and police trainer, stated, "There is going to be a very intensive inquiry on this. It is rare that a non-threatening, non-belligerent person ends up dying like this. What was the officers' justification for detaining him? This individual was not a threat to the officers. This is another tragic incident of compression asphyxia."[48] Seth Stoughton, a former-Florida police officer and a USC professor of law, stated "the dangers of positional asphyxia" were well-known with policemen, and compared the tactic to a "boa constrictor killing its prey by depriving it of oxygen."[49]

John Burris, an Oakland lawyer who specializes in police abuse cases and represented Rodney King in his civil rights lawsuit, stated it is "common knowledge" within law enforcement departments that pinning people down has "inherent" risk. He stated, "But they still do it. Why do they still do it? It's the rush of business. People get caught up."[50]

CURYJ Executive Director George Galvis stated, "We have seen this play out time and time again. Police come up with a false narrative until footage is revealed and the truth comes out. They did this to 13-year-old Adam Toledo, and they would have done it to George Floyd if there wasn't community recording."[7]

Jennifer Stark, an attorney with Disability Rights California, stated, "This was a tragic and avoidable incident that once again demonstrates the danger of involving law enforcement and interactions with people experiencing mental health crises and substance-use issues. This is not a violent person. There were no safety issues raised. There were some concerns potentially about mental health issues. And this is one of those cases where it would have been perfectly appropriate to involve mental health professionals to come in to speak with Mario and to de-escalate the situation. There was no crisis, until the law enforcement got involved."[51]

Alameda mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft stated, "I'm just heartsick. This is a young man. This shouldn't have happened."[52]

On Twitter, former-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro wrote, "Police in Alameda, CA wrote in a report that Mario Gonzalez was violent before his arrest and died in the hospital after a 'medical emergency.' Body cam footage shows he was calm and peaceful. He died on-site after they knelt on his back for 5 minutes."[53]

U.S. House Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote, "This makes me sick, heartbroken, disgusted, frustrated. Everything. Mario Arenales Gonzalez goes from living to dead at the hands of police. He was afraid of being handcuffed for nothing — afraid he would be killed. And he was. There must be justice."[54] Former-Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell wrote, "Something is wrong when you're a person of color & as a parent you have to worry literally every time they step out the door. There's no freedom in American when you are murdered bc of the color of your skin. #NoMas."[55]

In the aftermath of Gonzalez' death, the Alameda City Council planned a special session to discuss immediate police reforms, including the creation of a civilian police oversight board, a revision of the department's use of force policies, and new requirement for a "non-police response" to certain types of 9-1-1 calls.[51] In March 2021, Alameda voted to pursue a long-term program to send mental health professionals to some 9-1-1 calls, rather than police.[57] Michael Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, suggested that a program such as Oregon's CAHOOTS would connect people to health services rather than simply incarcerating them.[57]

On the state level, some have called for the passage of Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gipson's Assembly Bill 490 which would outlaw "positional asphyxia," a form of apprehension that compresses an individual's airways and reduces their ability to breathe regularly. Assemblyman Gibson stated, "This does not mean that a police officer can no longer restrain anyone when they need to for public safety, but it would mean that they cannot keep anyone from breathing/losing oxygen when restraining them."[51]