Man Dies After Alameda Police Pin Him To Ground, Video Shows

ALAMEDA, CA — Alameda police released body-camera video and the family of Mario Gonzalez spoke out Tuesday following police officers' fatal interaction with Gonzalez last week.

Gonzalez's mother, Edith Arenales, and the mother of Gonzalez's son spoke at noon outside police headquarters at 1555 Oak St., and said police lied to them.

After watching body-camera video, the family disagrees at least in part with what police say happened when they contacted Gonzalez near 802 Oak St.

Warning: The video is disturbing and not appropriate for children to watch.

"The Police Department, the Alameda Police Department, lied to me," Arenales said at the briefing.

She said police told her that her son, 26, of Oakland, fought with officers, which she does not believe he would do.

The video shows Gonzalez resisting officers' attempts to put his hands behind his back.

In video from one of the officers' cameras, officers appear to take Gonzalez to the ground, where they handcuff and hold him down. Then he stops talking, screaming, and breathing.

Several times they check for a pulse and give him CPR. It's unclear whether he starts breathing again, but police do not find a pulse. Alameda firefighters arrive and continue medical care.

Police have said Gonzalez died at a hospital, which the mother of Gonzalez's son disputed.

"When we saw the video he died at the scene," said Andrea Cortez, the mother of Gonzalez's son Mario.

Events that led up to Gonzalez's death on the morning of April 19 began when someone called police about a man outside an Alameda home talking to himself. The caller said the man appeared to be just "hanging out," but added that the man had his wife scared.

Police received a second call about a man with two Walgreens shopping baskets loitering for about a half an hour.

The caller said the man might have stolen alcohol.

The first police officer on the scene talked to Gonzalez and tried to get his name.

A second officer arrived as the initial officer asked Gonzalez for identification, telling Gonzalez he would have to "take" him if he didn't provide any.

The officers told Gonzalez they just needed some identification to document that they talked to him.

"We don't want to waste your time," the second officer said. "We just want to make sure you're OK."

Gonzalez did not provide any identification and the officers took him by the arms.

One officer asked Gonzalez not to resist.

"Put your arms behind your back," one officer told Gonzalez.

After Gonzalez is on the ground, one officer places a knee on Gonzalez's back.

Gonzalez screamed at times and kicked, according to police, and then he was silent.

Three Alameda officers are on paid administrative leave following Gonzalez's death. Officials have not released the officers' names.

The family has hired legal firm Haddad and Sherwin to represent them in a civil rights case claiming police misconduct and wrongful death. The family also wants to raise awareness about alternative responses to police that may have prevented Gonzalez's death.

"If a program of civilian-led crisis response like MH First (a program of non-police response to mental health crises) had been in place, Mario might still be with his family today," said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, a coalition that seeks to eradicate police terror in communities of color, in a statement.

The city of Alameda has hired Louise Renne of Renne Public Law Group to conduct an independent investigation into Gonzalez's death.

The Alameda District Attorney's Office and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office are also conducting investigations.

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