After Oakland man dies in custody, Alameda looks at possible changes in policing
"Mario needed help sitting down and to be offered a snack and some water."
ALAMEDA — Weeks after a man died in Alameda police custody — and months after calls for sweeping changes in the way officers interact with the public — city officials now want swifter action.
Proposed changes include having mental health workers go out on certain 911 calls instead of police officers, as well as establishing a citizens advisory board to regularly review police policies and procedures.
Other changes include immediate training for all Alameda police dispatchers on assessing and responding to 911 calls and launching a public education campaign to provide other easily accessible phone numbers as an alternative to calling 911.
The City Council will review the proposals during a special May 8 meeting that was set up after Mario Arenales Gonzalez, 26, of Oakland, died as police officers were taking him into custody on April 19.
Body camera footage from the officers show them questioning him, including asking for identification. After police force him to the ground and restrain him as he lies facedown, the officers realize Gonzalez is unresponsive. They roll him onto his side, then push him onto his back and begin chest compressions after checking for a pulse, the footage shows.
The City Council broadly adopted the changes in policing in March, and asked city staff to come back with how they might be implemented. The changes were prompted by officers detaining a Black man after a woman said she was concerned for the man’s safety.
Gonzalez’s death has put policing back on the council’s high priorities.
During the upcoming meeting, the council will consider calling for “immediate action” and asking City Manager Eric Levitt for a timeline and funding sources to make the changes.
“This is something that has support,” Councilman John Knox White said in an interview. “No one is pushing back. And that includes police officers. This will allow them to conserve resources by not having to respond to calls that are maybe not appropriate for the police.”
Body camera footage shows officers pinning Gonzalez facedown on the ground for about five minutes and Gonzalez becoming unresponsive while in handcuffs. The three officers involved are now on administrative leave.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office are both conducting independent investigations, plus the city has hired Louise Renne, a former city attorney for San Francisco and a former San Francisco supervisor, to carry out an investigation.
Gonzalez suffered a medical emergency as he was being detained, police said in a statement shortly after officers confronted him.
His family maintains he was killed by police using excessive force.
The officers were responding to reports that Gonzalez, who they found at a city park, may have been involved in a theft because a caller said he was allegedly breaking anti-theft devices off alcohol bottles that were in a Walgreens handcart, and he was possibly drunk or under the influence of narcotics.
The recommendations set for the upcoming council meeting initially emerged from community committees set up by City Manager Eric Levitt on reforming the police following the arrest of Mali Watkins, a Black man, in May last year on Central Avenue.
Alameda officers contacted Watkins after a woman reported she was concerned for his mental well-being because of his behavior. Watkins, who was in the road, told police he was dancing and exercising, as he did often.
As he began to walk away while officers were questioning him, they forced him to the ground and handcuffed him, then took him into custody on suspicion of resisting arrest. Prosecutors did not file charges against Watkins or the police.
Nearby residents filmed the encounter. After the footage appeared online and in the media, some said it highlighted the aggressive way police treat Blacks.
The committees that worked on proposed changes in policing involved 60 people working for more than six months and 3,000 hours, according to the city.
Councilman White, who has been outspoken in calling for changes in how police interact with people, declined to comment on whether any of the recommendations could have been implemented sooner and possibly have prevented Gonzalez’s death.
He said he wanted to first learn the results of the outside investigations into Gonzalez’s death.
“What I can say is that I wish we were further along,” he said about changing how police interact with the public.
The way Alameda dispatchers field calls reporting someone may have a mental health crisis could be modeled on a partnership established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989, between law enforcement and the White Bird Clinic, a local nonprofit that offers counseling, drug treatment and other services.
The program has saved millions of dollars in police and emergency response costs, Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft noted.
Residents already are calling on the city to make changes.
“Mario should still be here, please remember that as you consider enacting these changes to prevent our police from killing another innocent person in our community and try to imagine yourself or a loved one that could have been in a similar situation and how you would have liked to see it handled,” resident Brandon Svec said in an email to the council after the meeting was announced. “Mario needed help sitting down and to be offered a snack and some water.”
Resident Andy Murdock emailed: “This tragedy was totally unnecessary and preventable. Let’s please put all of our energies into preventing another incident like this from ever happening again.”
But former Vice Mayor Richard Sherratt questioned the need for an emergency meeting, especially on a Saturday.
“This meeting appears to jump the proper investigation being conducted by professionals to explore facts, not emotions,” Sherratt messaged the council, adding: “Let the process proceed and let the facts prevail. You are not the judge or jury.”
The May 8 meeting will begin at 3 p.m. More information about how to participate in the meeting can be found at https://alamedaca-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6Z_d9jXTQqGtw5vWwiPStA.
People can also call in at 669-900-9128. The meeting identification number is 874 2788 4100.