OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — An Oakland judge Friday dismissed criminal charges against police officer Eric McKinley, who was accused of wrongfully killing an Alameda man by restraining and asphyxiating him in 2021. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office requested to voluntarily dismiss the case after finding “several key inconsistencies” in the statements of a key potential medical witness.
“Multiple key inconsistencies from a now-hostile witness convince the people it has not met its burden to bring a case against Mr. McKinley,” Lead Attorney Simone Spector from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said in court.
Former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alameda police officers Eric McKinley, James Fisher and Cameron Leahy in April accusing them of killing Mario Gonzalez by restraint-asphyxiation. The officers detained Gonzales because they claimed he was drunk and was a danger to himself. Gonzalez died soon after being restrained.
The cases against the other two officers were dismissed in October after the D.A.’s office failed to file the necessary paperwork before the statute of limitations expired. McKinley’s case survived because he spent the first five months of 2024 on a volunteer mission trip in South Africa, which a judge ruled paused the statute of limitations for him while he was out of state.
The decision in the courtroom turned into a shouting match between Superior Court Judge Scott Patton and members of Gonzales’s family, as well as friends and local organizers who were present. Some wore “Justice For Mario” t-shirts.
“White supremacist-ass system!” shouted one organizer.
Gonzales’s mother, Edith Arenales, was present and joined the commotion.
“Justicia por mijo!” she cried.
The judge shouted back and pointed at the protestors as he was leaving the room.
“Hey! You’re going to get yourself held in contempt!” Patton yelled.
In a statement, the District Attorney’s Office said the decision to dismiss the charges against McKinley was the direct result of inconsistent statements made by forensic pathologist Dr. Bennett Omalu. Omalu is best known for his previous work on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration in the NFL, later chronicled in the 2015 Golden Globe-nominated movie Concussion starring Will Smith.
An autopsy performed by Omalu claimed that Gonzalez died from restraint asphyxia and that he had deep bruising from blunt force trauma on his back and swelling of his brain from lack of oxygen.
“Omalu was key to the case,” Spector explained in court.
However, Omalu recently threw a wrench in the D.A.’s case by filing a motion to quash a subpoena by the District Attorney’s office. The subpoena would have compelled him to appear in court and testify.
In a separate statement, Omalu said if he knew his second autopsy would be used for criminal prosecution of a police officer, he would not have accepted the case nor performed the autopsy. Meanwhile, the District Attorney’s Office claims that statements Omalu wrote in his motion were inconsistent with his sworn deposition in the civil case.
Ultimately, Omalu said he did not change his opinion on the cause of death, but the development was enough to deter the D.A. from pursuing the case.
McKinley did not oppose the motion. James Alan Shore, his lawyer, blamed former District Attorney Pamela Price for letting the case get this far, calling her conduct “despicable.”
“In my opinion, it brings disrepute to the court and the community,” Shore said in court.
After the hearing, organizers and supporters for Gonzales shuffled to the elevator, and when they got off on a different floor, Arenales cried for her son. A member of her party declined an interview at the time, saying they wanted to be with her during this difficult time.
Jesus Coba, 34, an organizer with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, was present at the hearing. He said his group followed the case closely, but only learned about the motion to dismiss the night before. He said their collective outburst wasn’t planned.
“It just came up out of pain and passion,” he said. “I just felt the urge to let the murderer in the courtroom know we’re seeking justice for Mario.”
He added that he didn’t think he did anything wrong by speaking out in court.
Among those present in court were members of Gonzales’s family, friends, his former high school teacher and a therapist for Arenales.
The motion hearing took place in the Renee C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland, California.