Outrage grows over video of man dying after Alameda officer pins him
Authorities in Alameda are facing growing outrage after a body camera video released this week showed an officer appearing to put a knee on the back of a 25year-old Latino man for more than four minutes, with the man pleading and gasping for air before dying.
Mario Gonzalez is heard in the video telling officers, “I didn’t do nothing, OK?” before losing consciousness.
The video immediately drew a comparison from Gonzalez’s family and friends to George Floyd’s killing last summer, when then-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes.
Some law enforcement experts said the video raises serious questions about police tactics.
“There is going to be a very intensive inquiry on this,” said Ed Obayashi, a Northern California sheriff ’s deputy, legal adviser and veteran police trainer. “It is rare that a nonthreatening, nonbelligerent person ends up dying like this.”
On April 19, Alameda police officers responded to two separate reports of a man “who appeared to be under the influence and a suspect in a possible theft,” the department said in a news release.
“Officers attempted to detain the man, and a physical altercation ensued. At that time, the man had a medical emergency,” the release said.
Another news release said that “there was a scuffle as officers attempted to place his hands behind his back.”
“The protection of human life is our primary duty as police officers,” interim police Chief Randy Fenn said last week, in announcing a series of investigations into the death. “The loss of Mr. Gonzalez is a terrible tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.”
In the video, shortly before Gonzalez stops breathing, one officer asks the other: “Think we can roll him on his side?” but the other answers, “I don’t want to lose what I got, man.”
Another officer then asks, “We got no weight on his chest?” then repeats “No! No weight ... no weight.”
“He’s going unresponsive,” one officer says.