Household seeks federal civil rights inquiry of Alameda police in demise of Mario Gonzalez

Attorneys for the family of Mario Gonzalez, a Latino man who died after an Alameda officer rested a knee on his back and neck for more than four minutes, are calling on the US Attorney General to investigate the civil rights of the Bay Area City Police carry out department.

Julie Sherwin and Michael Haddad, who represent the 26-year-old’s mother, brothers and 4-year-old son, sent a letter to Atty. General Merrick Garland asked him to open a civil rights investigation into Gonzalez’s death and the guidelines and training provided by the Alameda Police Department. He stated that this is the second such death the department has been involved in in recent years.

“Mario died as a result of the officers’ weight restriction,” Sherwin wrote in the letter sent to Garland on Monday.

A similar death occurred in December 2018, Sherwin wrote. Shelby Gattenby, an Iraq war veteran, died when he was arrested by Alameda police after they held him prone and stun guns at him several times.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

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