SHOCKING police bodycam footage shows a cop kneeling on a Latino man’s back and neck for five minutes until he died. The family of Mario Gonzalez, 26, last accused police of “murder” in a case with chilling echoes of the death of George Floyd. The bodycam video was released by police in Alameda, California, late […]
SHOCKING police bodycam footage shows a cop kneeling on a Latino man’s back and neck for five minutes until he died.
The family of Mario Gonzalez, 26, last accused police of “murder” in a case with chilling echoes of the death of George Floyd.
The bodycam video was released by police in Alameda, California, late on Tuesday.
It appears to contradict the department’s earlier statement following his death on April 19.
Officials initially claimed Mario suffered a “medical emergency” after a “physical altercation” with cops.
“What I saw was different from what I was told,” Mario’s brother Gerardo Gonzalez told KTVU after seeing the video.
“The medical emergency was because they were on his back while he was lying on the ground. It was brought by the officers on top of his head.”
The footage shows Mario being approached by officers in the city’s Pocket Park.
He appears disoriented but calm as he speaks to the cops for nine minutes, with two bottles of alcohol nearby.
After he fails to produce ID, they try to cuff his arms behind his back but fail even though he appears not to be resisting.
The officers then take him down to the ground, and one is seen with his elbow on Mario’s neck and his knee on his back near his right shoulder.
At one point the knee moves to the base of Mario’s neck as he is pinned face down to the ground for five minutes.
Another officer also appears to get on his back and Mario can be heard grunting.
One officer asks another if he thinks they can roll Mario on his side. The officer replies: “I don’t wanna lose what I got, man.”
Eventually the three officers present realise he is not conscious and begin chest compressions after finding no pulse.
The chef and construction worker, dad to a four-year-old son, was pronounced dead later in hospital.
Relatives said Mario, who weighed 250lbs, was otherwise healthy and had no known medical conditions.
Younger brother Gerardo said it was “heartbreaking” to watch the video on Monday at Alameda City Hall with his mother, Edith Arenales.
“Alameda police officers murdered my brother Mario,” Gerardo said.
He said his brother was “not bothering anyone” and that “at no point was he violent.”
He added: “Everything we saw in that video was unnecessary. APD took a calm situation and made it fatal.
“Police killed my brother in the same manner that they killed George Floyd.”
Mario never tried to kick or threaten the officers, said family attorney Julia Sherwin, who added: “This would have felt like torture.”
The attorney is an expert in restraint asphyxiation who acted as consultant in the prosecution of killer cop Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes last year in Minneapolis.
His death sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund police departments in the US.
Alameda PD said the three officers involved in Mario Gonzalez’s death had been placed on administrative leave.
Last week a statement on his death said officers had responded to reports of a man “who appeared to be under the influence and a suspect in a possible theft”.
It said: “Officers attempted to detain the man and a physical altercation ensued.
“At that time, the man had a medical emergency.”
The county sheriff’s office and the district attorney are investigating.
