The family of a 26-year-old man who died after being restrained by police is demanding answers in response to body-camera video of officers pinning the man facedown on the ground for five minutes. The footage released Tuesday shows Mario Arenales Gonzalez becoming unresponsive while officers in Alameda, Calif., restrain him…
The city of Fresno has reached a $4.9 million tentative settlement with the family of an unarmed teenager killed when an officer shot him in the back of the head, Councilmember Miguel Arias said Saturday. The city has faced a lawsuit for about three years after it was filed by…
OAKLAND, CA (March 16, 2021) — Civil rights law firm Haddad & Sherwin LLP announced today that it has filed a federal court lawsuit against high level administrators of the State of California and the CDCR for the COVID-19 death of a San Quentin inmate stemming from the botched transfer…
Napa Valley Register/Howard Yune A law firm representing the family of Juan Adrian Garcia announced Tuesday morning it has filed a claim against Napa County for what it called “completely unjustified” use of force in the deadly shooting of Garcia by a sheriff’s deputy in October. The claim, a prelude…
By Julia Sherwin Law enforcement shootings of unarmed men of color are an epidemic in this country. And today, we address yet another one. On October 5, 2020, Napa County Sheriff’s Sergeant David Ackman pulled over Juan Garcia’s vehicle because Juan was driving with his headlights off, a minor vehicle…
Carl Edwards was on his own front porch, working on a fence, minding his own business, when Vallejo Police Officer Spencer Muniz-Bottomley attacked him. Two other officers and a sergeant joined in, choking and beating Carl for several minutes. Officers were looking for someone else who did not fit Carl’s…
San Francisco Chronicle/Otis R. Taylor, Jr. Handyman Carl Edwards was welding the fence at the side of his Tennessee Street building when a Vallejo police officer approached him. Seconds later, Edwards was bleeding — tackled to the ground, choked and punched repeatedly in the head. Blood gushed from his busted…
We helped our two clients, the children of Humberto (“Beto”) Martinez, settle their claims for their father’s wrongful chokehold death for $7.3 million plus police reforms. This local case involved Pittsburg police officers’ use of a carotid hold and choke hold, and other highly injurious force, on video, while Beto…
This local case involved Pittsburg police officers’ use of a carotid hold and choke hold, and other highly injurious force, on video, while Beto Martinez can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe!” much like the more publicized cases of George Floyd and Eric Garner. On the afternoon of July 26,…
San Jose Mercury News/Nate Gartell PITTSBURG — The city has agreed to pay $7.3 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of a man who was killed after an officer placed him in a carotid hold for 50 seconds, using a controversial technique that has since been widely banned…