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Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley announced last week that her office would not pursue criminal charges against police in Alameda and California Highway Patrol officers in Oakland in connection with separate fatal shootings in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The following on reports from Bay City News Service after case investigations were concluded and released in recent days, including reaction from each family.
Mario Gonzalez, Alameda, April 2021
Alameda County prosecutors have declined to file criminal charges against three police officers in the death of an Oakland man in Alameda last April.
Mario Gonzalez’s death was ruled a homicide in December by the Alameda County coroner’s bureau, but the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said that “homicide” doesn’t imply criminal intent in a report explaining why criminal charges were not filed.
“After reviewing the evidence in this case,” prosecutors wrote, “the elements of the relevant crimes cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors said their decision “rests squarely on the ability to establish the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mario Gonzalez, 26, died April 19, 2021, as he was being restrained outside 802 Oak St. in Alameda. He allegedly appeared to be under the influence and police thought he may have been involved in a theft.
Attorneys who have filed a civil suit against police officers on behalf of Gonzalez’s 5-year-old son and only child, said police confirmed that Gonzalez did not steal liquor seen near him when officers stopped to talk to him.
Police restrained Gonzalez on the ground for several minutes and he went unconscious. Attempts were made to revive him, and he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of Gonzalez’s death was “the toxic effects of methamphetamine, with the physiological stress of altercation and restraint, morbid obesity, and alcoholism contributing to the process of dying,” the coroner’s autopsy report said.
The police officers involved in Gonzalez’s death are James Fisher, Cameron Leahy, and Eric McKinley. The three officers remain on paid administrative leave, and they have no peace officer powers until all investigations are complete, city officials said.
The civil suit against the officers also includes then-interim Police Chief Randy Fenn and the city as defendants.
“It’s wrong but not surprising that Nancy O’Malley has chosen again not to hold police officers criminally responsible when they needlessly commit a homicide,” said attorney Michael Haddad, who is handling the civil suit. “We still intend to hold the officers fully accountable for killing our client Mario Gonzalez Cortez’s father.”
The city has hired investigator Louis Renne of Renne Public Law Group to conduct an independent investigation into Gonzalez’s death, according to the city of Alameda. City officials said the report by prosecutors will inform Renne’s report.
Erik Salgado, June 2020, Oakland
Erik Salgado’s family and supporters on Tuesday challenged the report and decision by Alameda County prosecutors not to charge three California Highway Patrol officers for Salgado’s death nearly two years ago in Oakland.
Joining the family and supporters were “Uncle Bobby,” Oscar Grant’s uncle, Steven Taylor’s grandmother as well as attorney John Burris, who is moving ahead with a civil rights lawsuit over Salgado’s death.
San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher has pleaded not guilty of voluntary manslaughter for shooting Steven Taylor at a Walmart store at 15555 Hesperian Blvd. on April 18, 2020.
Burris said there was no legal basis for the CHP officers to shoot into Salgado’s car.
“I think that report is a sham,” Burris said at a news conference Tuesday morning outside the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.
Prosecutors identified the officers as California Highway Patrol Sgt. Richard Henderson, and Officers Donald Saputa and Eric Hulbert.
Salgado, 22, was shot at about 10:45 p.m. on June 6, 2020, on Cherry Street between 96th and 98th avenues, according to the report. He was unarmed, prosecutors said.
Also wounded by CHP officers was Salgado’s girlfriend Brianna Colombo, who was pregnant with Salgado’s second child, family members of Salgado said.
Salgado’s sister Amanda Majail-Blanco described her brother as a loving individual who was outgoing, funny and a great dad.
“He lived a hard life,” Majail-Blanco said. “Erik did the best he could with what he had.”
Salgado was driving a red, two-door 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, according to police. Majail-Blanco said her brother was looking for parking in the area. His mother lived nearby, she said.
Prosecutors said in the report that CHP officers saw the Dodge speeding recklessly near 90th and Bancroft avenues in Oakland.
At the time, CHP officers were looking for a suspect from a freeway shooting a few days earlier, the report says.
But officers decided to stop the Dodge because the license plate on it had been reported stolen and several Dodge vehicles had been stolen recently from a San Leandro dealership, according to the report by prosecutors.
CHP officers in a marked CHP vehicle and an unmarked vehicle approached facing the front of the Dodge, the report says. An unmarked CHP vehicle approached the Dodge from the rear, according to the report.
Prosecutors allege Salgado backed up into the CHP truck behind him and then drove forward and rammed the marked CHP vehicle.
That’s when CHP officers at the scene believed the Dodge hit one officer, pinning the officer underneath and they opened fire, according to the report. Salgado suffered 16 rifle wounds to his torso and upper extremities, the report says.
He died at the scene, prosecutors said.
Sobbing, Salgado’s mother Felina Ramirez said through an interpreter Tuesday morning, “All I want is justice. I want justice for my son.”
She visits her son’s resting place every seven days.
Majail-Blanco said she believes the CHP has three videos from homes near the shooting scene and the agency is not releasing the footage.
She wants the three officers charged with murder for killing her brother.
He wasn’t a threat to society when the CHP stopped him, Majail-Blanco said. She said Salgado was driving slowly.
“It just doesn’t make sense” for her brother to be met with gunfire over auto theft, Majail-Blanco said.
None of the officers were wearing body cameras, prosecutors said in the report. For evidence, prosecutors said they had to rely mainly on statements by the officers involved.
Prosecutors said, “While questions remain as to the use of force in this case, there is a lack of evidence and independent witnesses to proceed with criminal charges.”
O’Malley would not comment on the Salgado case for the story. The CHP also declined to comment for the story, citing ongoing litigation.
The Fletcher prosecution is the first time O’Malley filed criminal charges against a police officer in a fatal shooting on duty. O’Malley is not running for re-election this year.
