Los Angeles Times / Richard Winton, Lila Seidman In a case drawing comparisons to the killing of George Floyd, authorities in the Bay Area city of Alameda are facing growing outrage after a body-camera video showed a police officer appearing to put a knee on the back of a 26-year-old…
The Washington Post / Marisa Lati 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…
When George Floyd was being restrained by Minneapolis police, officer Thomas Lane said on video: “Roll him on his side?” “I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever.” Mr. Floyd died several minutes later of restraint asphyxia as a result of being improperly restrained face down with an officer’s…
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…
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,…
The City of Vallejo agreed to pay $5.7 million to avoid trial against the children and parents of Ronell Foster, who was shot and killed by Vallejo Officer Ryan McMahon in 2018. Officer McMahon was stopping Ronell for a bicycle infraction, and says he only intended to give him a…
Buffalo, New York, police recently shoved Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old man who was protesting the murder of George Floyd, knocking Mr. Gugino to the ground and causing a head injury that immediately began to bleed and required hospitalization. Then a gang of officers callously walked past Mr. Gugino as he…
In a groundbreaking case against Stanislaus County and its private, for-profit jail medical provider, Haddad & Sherwin LLP obtained an $11.5 million settlement for a former inmate who walked into the jail able-bodied, and was carried out on a stretcher — paralyzed from the neck down. Our client, who wishes…