The Alameda County District Attorney's Office announced on Thursday that three police officers from the Alameda Police Department, Eric McKinley, James Fisher, and Cameron Leahy, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Mario Gonzalez, 26. The incident occurred on April 19, 2021, when officers responded to a call about a man behaving strangely in a public park. Body camera footage showed Officer McKinley approaching Gonzalez, who was incoherent and standing near liquor bottles. The officers attempted to detain Gonzalez, who resisted arrest, leading to him being pinned face down on the ground for about five minutes until he became unresponsive.

The previous district attorney had closed the investigation in 2022, citing the initial autopsy attributing Gonzalez's death to the toxic effects of methamphetamine. However, the current district attorney, Pamela Price, reopened the case last year, leading to the new charges. The charges were announced just days after a recall campaign against Price had gathered enough signatures to proceed.

The officers' attorney, Alison Berry Wilkinson, criticized the charges as a "blatantly political prosecution," while the city of Alameda reached settlements with Gonzalez's family totaling $11 million for his estate and $350,000 for his mother. The incident drew comparisons to the death of George Floyd, as Gonzalez was pinned to the ground one day before Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd's murder in Minneapolis.

The body camera footage showed officers attempting to restrain Gonzalez, who was resisting arrest, before pinning him face down on the ground. After about five minutes, Gonzalez became unresponsive, and officers began CPR, but he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The officers could face up to four years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter.