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A woman places a candle at a memorial for Mario Gonzalez during a vigil on April 21, 2021. Gonzalez died in Alameda police custody Monday.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
During a vigil Wednesday evening in Alameda, community members and activists demanded answers in the death this week of a 26-year-old Oakland man.
Mario Gonzalez died in Alameda police custody on Monday after what police termed a scuffle with officers in a small park near the city s Park Street corridor, the Alameda Police Department said in a statement Tuesday. Gonzalez, who police claimed appeared to be under the influence and a suspect in a possible theft, suffered an unspecified medical emergency after officers tried to place his hands behind his back, according to the police statement. Gonzalez was transported by Alameda Fire Department personnel to a hospital where he later died.
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Alameda police identify man who died during struggle with officers
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FILE - An Alameda police car. Credit: Alameda police
The events unfolded at 10:45 a.m. in the 800 block of Oak Street, where police said officers had responded to separate reports of a man under the influence and a man involved in a possible theft.
Officers started lifesaving procedures, called firefighters to the scene and Gonzales was taken to a hospital where he died, police said. Preliminary information indicates that after the officers made contact with him, there was a scuffle as officers attempted to place his hands behind his back, the Alameda Police Department said in a statement. Officers did not use any weapons during the scuffle with Mr. Gonzales.
Moved by security camera videos of older Asians being viciously attacked in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jacob Azevedo, a young Latino man, offered in an Instagram post to escort anyone in Oakland’s Chinatown who felt unsafe. Others saw the message and wanted to help him: Compassion in Oakland launched in February and has grown from hundreds to more than 2,000 orange-vested volunteers and is working to take the initiative to cities across the country.
“This [violence] is the worst we have ever seen, but it’s the best response I’ve ever seen myself, because when the worst came, we are seeing the best of humanity,” says Carl Chan, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1970s.