Death of Mario Gonzalez at Hands of Alameda Police Ruled a Homicide, But Linked to Substance Abuse and Health Issues

The death of Mario Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Oakland man who stopped breathing after Alameda police officers pinned him facedown on the ground, is being classified as a homicide by the Alameda County coroner.

But the autopsy report, released Friday, attributed Gonzalez's cardiac arrest and death to several factors, identifying the "toxic effects of methamphetamine" as the leading cause.

"The stress of the altercation and restraint combined with prone positioning in the setting of morbid obesity and recent methamphetamine [use] placed further strain on Mr. Gonzalez’s heart," according to the report, signed by Chief Forensic Pathologist Vivian S. Snyder. "Therefore the cause of death is the toxic effects of methamphetamine, with the physiologic stress of altercation and restraint, morbid obesity, and alcoholism contributing to the process of dying."

More than 20 cuts and bruises were found on Gonzalez's body, the report also stated.

Alison Berry Wilkinson, the attorney representing the three officers involved, said the report underscored how intoxicated and in need of help Gonzalez was, and said her clients had responded appropriately given the condition he was in.

But Julia Sherwin, a civil rights attorney representing Gonzalez's 5-year-old son, intends to pursue a federal civil rights wrongful death suit against the officers, saying the amount of meth found in Gonzalez's system was fairly minimal.

"He had a minor amount of recreational meth in his system that definitely would not have killed him," she said, referring to the toxicology report. "The thing that killed him was asphyxiation. ... When the officers forced him facedown in the dirt and put their weight on top of him, with his belly, it would have made it extremely difficult for him to breathe."

Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi — who joined the department several months after the incident occurred — extended condolences to Gonzalez's family.

"I know they are already suffering the severe trauma of losing a loved one,” he said in a statement. "The new information being released adds to that pain."

Joshi said the Alameda County District Attorney now had the responsibility of determining whether to pursue charges against the three officers and the one civilian employee involved in the incident; all have been placed on administrative leave.

"While we wait for the District Attorney's office to make their decision and with the knowledge of the Coroner's report, the City will work diligently towards completing its ongoing independent investigation and take appropriate action," he said.

A spokesperson for the Alameda County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the report, citing the ongoing investigation.

The long-awaited autopsy report comes nearly eight months after the fatal encounter, captured on police body camera, that sparked fierce protests and drew comparisons to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

On the morning of April 19, three Alameda police officers confronted Gonzalez in a small Alameda park in a residential neighborhood after responding to separate 911 calls. The first caller described a man "talking to himself" and "not making any sense."

"He seems like he’s tweaking. But he’s not doing anything wrong, he’s just scaring my wife," the caller said.

The second caller reported the man lingering in the park on Oak and Powell streets and appearing to be trying to break store security tags off alcohol bottles.

As captured in the nearly hour-long bodycam video, the incident began calmly, but after the three officers' made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to obtain Gonzalez's full name or ID, they grabbed him, never saying he was under arrest. When Gonzalez resisted being handcuffed, the officers took him to the ground, pinning him on his stomach, with at least one pressing an elbow and knee into his back and shoulder. They handcuffed him, holding him down with his hands behind his back as he continued to struggle for roughly five minutes, at which point he appeared to go limp and stopped breathing.

After the officers performed CPR and administered at least two doses of Narcan — given to counteract opiate overdoses — Gonzalez was rushed by paramedics to Alameda Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m., according to the autopsy report.

Following the release of the video in late April, a slew of social justice activists and policing experts were quick to lambaste the officers, accusing them of unnecessarily escalating a situation that did not appear to necessitate the use of force.

"To us, the autopsy is pretty much consistent with what we believe, which is that Mario would still be here if not for the overaggressive, heavy-handed tactics of the police," said Adante Pointer, an attorney representing Gonzalez's mother.

Pointer said attorneys for the officers likely will continue to home in on the other factors listed in the report that contributed to Gonzalez's death in an effort to "wash their hands of what they did."

"But the truth of the matter is all of those are preexisting conditions or habits that he had that if he had not interacted with the police, he would have lived through," he said. "You still can't run from the ultimate conclusion that this was a homicide and the police officers should be held accountable."

Pointer said he would continue to push for the officers' termination, and pressure the district attorney to criminally prosecute them, while also pursuing a substantial financial settlement from the city "to compensate this family for the loss of their loved one."

Gonzalez's mother is relieved that the autopsy acknowledges that "the officers killed her son and that he essentially didn't do it to himself," Pointer said.

"However, in the holiday season, what she'd like more would be for her son to be coming to the door, spending the holidays with their family," he added. "He'll never do that. So, you know, this is kind of a hollow victory, if you will, but a victory nevertheless."

KQED's Tara Siler contributed reporting to this story.