Three Northern California law enforcement officers have been charged with manslaughter in the death of a man who was pinned to his stomach in a 2021 incident that has been compared to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The indictment against James Fisher, Cameron Leahy and Eric McKinley was announced Thursday by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.
The charges were filed just before the statute of limitations expired, overturning a previous district attorney’s ruling that cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
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Mario Gonzalez, 26, passed away on April 19, 2021 in Alameda. At the time, McKinley, Fisher and Leahy were all Alameda police officers. McKinley and Leahy are still with the department, while Fisher is now a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy.
Officers confronted Gonzalez after receiving a 911 call stating that he appeared confused or intoxicated. He resisted being handcuffed and was pinned to the ground for several minutes before losing consciousness, police video shows.
Three California police officers have been charged in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez. (Fox News)
The county coroner’s autopsy report listed the cause of death as “the toxic effects of methamphetamine,” and cited “physiological stress from altercations and restraints,” morbid obesity, and alcoholism as contributing factors. Then-District Attorney Nancy O’Malley later found the officers’ actions were reasonable.
A second independent autopsy, conducted at the request of the Gonzalez family’s attorney, determined that Gonzalez died of “restraint asphyxia.” The district attorney’s office focused on the second autopsy in announcing the manslaughter charge.
Defense attorneys have denounced the charges as politically motivated, noting that the effort to oust Price had gathered enough signatures to force a recall election this year.
Fisher’s attorney, Michael Raines, said the charges were a “desperate effort to improve Fisher’s chances of continuing in office,” Bay Area News Group reported.
Attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson, who represented the three officers in the previous investigation and is now representing Leahy, said the district attorney waited “until the 11th hour” for the statute of limitations to run, but that she was not recalled. days after it was confirmed that he would face the charges, he said in an email to The Associated Press.
“There is no new evidence,” Berry-Wilkinson wrote. “This is a blatant political prosecution.”
Berry-Wilkinson said the officers’ actions were reasonable, necessary and lawful and that the death was due to drug intoxication.
“We are confident that a jury will see through this travesty and exonerate the officers, as they did in the previous two independent investigations,” the attorneys said.
Mr. McKinley’s attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.
Price said he was “locked out” from the case review conducted by his office’s fiscal accountability division.
Last year, Alameda settled two lawsuits over Gonzalez’s death. The city agreed to pay $11 million to the young son and $350,000 to the mother.
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Adante Poynter, a lawyer for Gonzalez’s mother, told reporters: “The mistake has been righted.”
