Prosecutors announced on Thursday that three California police officers have been charged in the 2021 death of a man in their custody, two years after the district attorney’s office initially decided against bringing criminal charges. Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price revealed that Eric McKinley, James Fisher, and Cameron Leahy each face one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the April 19, 2021, death of Mario Gonzalez Arenales.

This case is among several previously closed investigations into police shootings and in-custody deaths that were reopened by a newly established Public Accountability Unit, announced by Price in January 2023, shortly after she assumed office.

The district attorney’s office, under previous leadership, did not charge the officers following an investigation, citing the initial autopsy report which attributed the primary cause of death to “the toxic effects of methamphetamine,” as stated in a 2022 report by prosecutors.

However, a subsequent autopsy identified Mr. Gonzalez’s death as “a result of Restraint Asphyxiation,” the district attorney’s office stated on Thursday.

“There is no new evidence. This is a blatantly political prosecution,” Alison Berry Wilkinson, an attorney for the three officers, told CNN in a statement.

“We are confident a jury will see through this charade and exonerate the officers, just as the two prior independent investigations did,” the statement said.

Leahy and McKinley remain officers with the Alameda Police Department, while Fisher is currently a deputy at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, Wilkinson said.

CNN has reached out to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the Alameda Police Department for comment.

The incident happened a day before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death and against the backdrop of widespread demonstrations over police use of force.

McKinley, Fisher and Leahy encountered Gonzalez, 26, while responding to a call that a person was “acting strangely and talking to himself,” according to the 2022 report from the district attorney’s office.

The officers “lawfully attempted to detain” Gonzalez and controlled his arms, back, and legs as his arms were cuffed behind his back, the report says. Gonzalez “was still resisting with his entire body, including his legs,” even after being handcuffed, according to the report.

The officers placed Gonzalez on his stomach on the ground for about five minutes before he became unresponsive, body camera footage released by Alameda Police Department showed. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.