May 2024. BLUES Vol. 40 No. 5

Eric Hawkins said at a

Eric Hawkins said at a news conference outside the hospital. “We just experienced one of an officer’s worst nightmares, and that is being ambushed performing a routine part of their duties,” he said. The officer had seen a speeding vehicle about 12:30 a.m. and there was a short pursuit, but the vehicle didn’t stop and he stopped following it, Hawkins said. A short time later, the officer saw the vehicle parked along a road. The officer approached the vehicle, Hawkins said. He was about 5 feet (1.5 meters) away from it when the man, who was out of the car, “emerges and immediately fires shots at the officer and strikes the officer,” Hawkins said. The officer immediately returned fire, Hawkins said. The names of the officer and the man were not released. Hawkins said he looked at footage from the officer’s bodyworn camera. “There’s no other way to describe this but an ambush,” he said. “This officer was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.” “This was not what he expected to happen today during his shift,” she said. AFTER PREVIOUSLY BEING CLEARED, 3 CALIF. OFFICERS NOW FACE MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES By Madilynne Medina ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA. — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged three East Bay police officers with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of 26-year-old Mario 68 The Blues - May ‘24 Gonzalez, according to a Thursday news release. Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney, made the decision to revisit Gonzalez’s case days after community members gathered enough signatures to prompt a recall election. The Gonzales case was one of eight in-custody death investigations reopened under Price’s leadership. According to the news release, the decision to charge the officers was made by prosecutors in the office’s independent Public Accountability Unit, not Price herself. Gonzalez died on April 19, 2021, while being restrained on the ground by Alameda police officers Eric McKinley, James Fisher and Cameron Leahy. Charging the officers involved marks a reversal of the decision made by former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, who announced in 2022 that her office’s investigation found the evidence did “not justify criminal charges.” An initial autopsy conducted by the county coroner ruled Gonzalez’s death a homicide, but stated that “toxic effects of methamphetamine” were the main cause of death. The report cited “physiologic stress of altercation and restraint” as a secondary factor. However, a second, independent autopsy was requested by Gonzalez’s family after they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, the East Bay Times reported. That autopsy, conducted in 2022, found that Gonzalez had been killed by asphyxiation as a result of being restrained. While the second autopsy acknowledged that Gonzalez had drugs in his system, it concluded that the effects had not been lethal. “Methamphetamine was not the underlying cause of death of Mr. Gonzalez-Arenales. The presence of a drug in the blood of a deceased person does not equate to causation of death,” the coroner found. On the day of Gonzalez’ death, officers responded to multiple 911 calls about a man behaving strangely in a park on the island of Alameda, the Los Angeles Times reported. “He seems like he’s tweaking. But he’s not doing anything wrong, he’s just scaring my wife,” one caller said, according to the LA Times. Another caller said Gonzalez appeared to be stealing alcohol and was loitering. In an hour-long video recorded by one of the officers’ body cameras, the police asked for identification from Gonzalez, who appeared to respond incoherently. The officers then grabbed Gonzalez and pinned him, holding him on the ground until he appeared to lose consciousness. Officers attempted to render CPR, but Gonzalez was declared dead at the scene. After the conclusion of the initial investigation in 2022, all the officers were allowed to return to full duty, after spending time on paid administrative leave. In a statement issued Friday, Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi said he stands by the initial determination that “ Alameda police officers did not engage in any misconduct.” However, two officers involved in the arrest, Leahy and Mckinley, had been placed on leave again as a result of the recent crimi-

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