3 California Law Officers Charged With Manslaughter After Initially Being Cleared

Three law enforcement officers in the San Francisco Bay Area were charged Thursday in the 2021 death of a 26-year-old Latino father in police custody. Two years ago, prosecutors in Alameda County chose not to prosecute the officers, but they changed course this week after a new district attorney took office and a new autopsy report revealed more information about the death.

Eric McKinley, James Fisher and Cameron Leahy were each charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Mario Gonzalez . Leahy and McKinley work for the Alameda Police Department, and Fisher was with the APD at the time but is now a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

On April 19, 2021, police received calls that a man was “acting strangely” and was “talking to himself,” according to a report from former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. When officers approached Gonzalez, he was alone in a park and there were alcohol bottles nearby. He spoke with officers for close to nine minutes, according to body camera footage later released by the police department.

The officers then put Gonzalez’s hands behind his back and put him on the ground face-down. At least one officer knelt on his back, the footage shows.

Police initially stated that Gonzalez died at the hospital, but the video footage shows he stopped breathing during the arrest. One officer can be heard in the video saying Gonzalez had no pulse. Police initially described their interaction with Gonzalez as a “scuffle” while they tried to detain him.

The charges were filed as Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is reexamining cases of officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths. The office said it is investigating seven other cases.