Two Hayward police officers who used deadly force against a man in 2018 cannot be held criminally liable for their actions, found the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Public Accountability Unit after re-reviewing the case that had been previously considered by the prior administration, according to a news release from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.
The PAU found that Hayward Police Officers Phillip Wooley and Michael Clark, who fatally shot Agustin Gonsalez on Nov. 15, 2018, could not be held criminally liable because the prosecution could not prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the shots fired were not in self-defense, according to the news release.
This was one of six police shooting cases Price slated for reconsideration by her newly-formed PAU shortly after taking office in 2023.
Last month, an Alameda County judge threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against two of three officers accused in the death of Mario Gonzalez in 2021, the only other case of the six that has been reinvestigated. Price filed charges against the officers in April after they had initially been cleared of wrongdoing by Price’s predecessor.
Around 9:19 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2018, the two officers shot Gonsalez multiple times in front of 24697 Oneil Avenue, according to the report. Gonsalez had been approaching Wooley brandishing a razor blade, which the officer believed was a knife. Gonsalez had fourteen bullet wounds, but investigators could not determine how many bullets he was struck by or which officer they came from.
The report concluded that the officers’ actions were reasonable under the belief that Gonsalez posed an imminent threat to safety.
The PAU reviewed all the materials that had been evaluated by the previous administration’s Officer Involved Shooting Team as well as the report written by the team and deposition given by Wooley in a civil case against the city of Hayward, according to the news release. The DA’s office also hired Dr. Ian T. Adams, an expert on the use of force, to review the case.
The new report said that the previous investigation of the incident “did not fully explore the tactical decisions made by the officers, the standards imposed by modern police practices or how their decisions might have escalated the situation resulting in the tragic death of Mr. Gonsalez.” It also said that it did not include “recommendations or lessons learned.”
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Adams concluded that there were elements of the Hayward Police Department’s training and policies that could be modernized with evidence-based policing approaches, according to the report.
The decision was shared with Gonsalez’s surviving family members, according to the news release.
“I believe that the continual improvement of the criminal justice system and a sincere commitment to public safety requires a cause-focused analysis of these types of incidents,” Price wrote in a letter to the Hayward police chief, which was shared in the news release. “Dr. Adams’ opinions on how tactical failures by the involved officers and training by the Hayward Police Department may have contributed to the tragedy, are important to consider to prevent future tragedies from happening in Hayward and potentially, all of Alameda County.”