Family says California man died in ‘same manner’ as George Floyd

Police officers in Alameda,California, pinned a young man down for several minutes before he became unresponsive during an arrest last week, according to body camera footage the city released after his death

After Mario Gonzalez, 26, became unresponsive, officers used chest compression to try to revive him, according to footage of the April 19 incident, which was released late on Tuesday.

Gonzalez died in a hospital that day, according to an initial statement by the city last week.

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The new video, taken from the body cameras of several officers show Gonzalez twisting and turning as police repeatedly ask him to put his hands behind his back.

“The police killed my brother in the same manner they killed George Floyd,” said the dead man’s brother, Gerardo Gonzalez, at a news conference on Tuesday night, shortly after the body camera footage was released.

Police say the 26-year-old died of a medical emergency during a scuffle with officers last April 19, 2021. The officers had responded to a possible theft in the area and a call that came in about a disorderly and possibly intoxicated person. They spent more than 10 minutes unsuccessfully trying to figure out who he was and what he was doing there.

In Alameda, a city of nearly 80,000 people adjacent to Oakland, officers were dispatched to a park to check on Gonzalez after residents in two emergency 911 calls reported a man was loitering and appeared to be talking to himself, according to recordings of the calls released by the city.

The officers' body camera footage shows at least two officers approaching Gonzalez and trying to determine his identity. One officer asks where Gonzalez got what appear to be bottles of alcohol in one of two shopping baskets, and says he needs to identify him to make sure there are no outstanding arrest warrants for him.

The officers then try to take Gonzalez into custody and struggle to get both his hands behind his back, the footage shows. They tell the man to stop resisting and eventually wrestle him to the ground, with his body facing downward.

"Mario, please do not resist us," one of the officers says.

The officers then struggle for a little over five minutes to keep Gonzalez pinned and to get both his hands behind his back so they can handcuff him. One of the officers has his knee on the man's shoulder to hold him down.

They then check for a pulse. When Gonzalez does not respond, they turn him over and begin chest compression's before paramedics arrive.

Three investigations are underway into how the response led to Gonzalez's death, said Alameda city spokeswoman Sarah Henry. The probes are being carried out by the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, the Alameda County District Attorney's office, and an independent outside investigation, she said.

(With inputs from agencies)