An Alameda County judge tossed involuntary manslaughter charges against two of the three Alameda police officers accused in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez, who stopped breathing as officers piled on his back while trying to make an arrest.
The ruling by Judge Scott Patton on Monday to dismiss charges against officers Cameron Leahy and James Fisher marks another twist in a case that drew comparisons to the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. It comes after the officers’ attorneys argued that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price’s office waited too long to file charges against the men, violating the three-year statute of limitations.
A third officer, Eric McKinley, remains charged with involuntary manslaughter after Patton ruled that the district attorney’s office met the timeliness criteria in his case.
After the ruling, Fisher’s attorney slammed Price’s office for “shoddy” work, adding that the ruling was vindication “a baseless filing rooted in a lack of prosecutorial integrity.”
“Mr. Fisher is an exemplary officer who fell victim to Pam Price’s desperate attempt to salvage her disastrous time in the DA’s Office,” said the attorney, Julia Fox, in a text message.
A message by this newspaper to the district attorney’s office was not immediately returned.
Gonzalez, 26, died after being contacted by Alameda officers who suspected he had broken a municipal code banning open alcohol containers in public. Officers tackled Gonzalez when he resisted being handcuffed, according to police video, and pinned him to the ground for several minutes as he screamed and whimpered before falling unconscious.
The Alameda County Coroner’s Office later ruled that his death was a homicide, citing “stress of altercation and restraint,” while also noting the “toxic effects of methamphetamine,” “morbid obesity” and “alcoholism” as contributing factors.
A few months later, former Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley cleared the officers — Eric McKinley, Cameron Leahy and James Fisher — of criminal wrongdoing, suggesting their response was “objectively reasonable.”
However, an independent autopsy requested by Gonzalez’s family determined the primary cause of death was “restraint asphyxiation.” It also found that methamphetamine levels in his body were too low to contribute to his death.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.