Alameda Officers Not Fully Cleared In Man's Death After Arrest: Report

ALAMEDA, CA — An independent report failed to clear three Alameda police officers for their actions in the in-custody death of Mario Gonzalez last year, the report released this week shows.

The city of Alameda commissioned the report, which looks at whether the officers violated any police policies in effect when they pinned Gonzalez to the ground to arrest him.

Officers were sent at 10:37 a.m. on April 19, 2021 to the 800 block of Oak Street following 911 calls.

Officers tried to talk to Gonzalez. He was unable to provide identification, and they decided to arrest him, according to police body camera audio and video.

The report released Wednesday by the city and prepared by Renne Public Law Group says Gonzalez resisted arrest. On the ground, officers struggled to handcuff Gonzalez, who officers believed was intoxicated, according to the report.

During the struggle, Gonzalez went unconscious and was later pronounced dead.

The report fails to clear the three officers — Eric McKinley, James Fisher and Cameron Leahy — of use of force violations when they and Gonzalez were on the ground.

Evidence indicates that the officers "acted in conformity with Department policy, but due to the limits of the body camera footage certain information could not be completely confirmed," the report says.

The three officers and parking technician Charles Clemmons were exonerated of any other violations of Alameda police policy, according to the report.

Gonzalez's death was ruled a homicide by the Alameda County coroner's bureau but that does not mean the officers were criminally liable. Rather, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against them.

• Alameda Death Involving Police Officers Ruled Homicide

"After reviewing the evidence in this case," prosecutors wrote, "the elements of the relevant crimes cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

Prosecutors said their decision "rests squarely on the ability to establish the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt."

The report by the District Attorney's Office informed the report by the Renne Public Law Group, according to the city of Alameda.

According to an Alameda County coroner's report, the cause of Gonzalez's death was "the toxic effects of methamphetamine, with the physiological stress of altercation and restraint, morbid obesity, and alcoholism contributing to the process of dying."

But a separate independent autopsy performed later says Gonzalez died of restraint asphyxiation, not methamphetamine, though methamphetamine was present in his body when he was being arrested.

• Mario Gonzalez Family Files Suit Against Alameda, Police Officers

Attorneys for Haddad and Sherwin LLP have filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Gonzalez's then-5-year-old and only son. The suit was filed against the three police officers and then-interim Police Chief Randy Fenn.

City of Alameda spokesperson Sarah Henry said the three officers are no longer on paid administrative leave. She said the officers will have to meet some training requirements before they go back to field work "after being on leave for some time."

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