Man Dies After Being Pinned to the Ground for 5 Minutes During Arrest, Bodycam Footage Shows

The city of Alameda, California, released bodycam footage this week of an incident involving police during which a 26-year-old man, Mario Gonzalez, died after officers pinned him to the ground for about five minutes during an arrest.

The incident, which occurred April 19, one day before former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on murder and manslaughter charges for his role in George Floyd’s death, is already drawing comparisons in the media to the Floyd killing. During an arrest last May, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes despite Floyd’s repeated complaints that he couldn’t breathe.

In the nearly hourlong footage released Tuesday, police appear to wrestle with Gonzalez, restraining him by pinning him facedown on the ground and applying pressure to his legs and back. After several minutes of struggling on the ground, Gonzalez becomes unresponsive and police immediately begin attempting chest compressions.

In both initial and updated reports about the incident, police in Alameda, which is just south of Oakland, wrote that Gonzalez had a “medical emergency” during an altercation with police. The department noted that officers responded to the scene after two separate reports came in about a male under the influence in a public area who may have committed a theft. (Read more from “Man Dies After Being Pinned to the Ground for 5 Minutes During Arrest, Bodycam Footage Shows” HERE)

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