Man died in Golden 1 Center after guard kneeled on his neck for 4 minutes, suit says

A year after a man accused of trespassing at the Golden 1 Center died while being detained inside the arena, a new wrongful death lawsuit alleges a security guard kept his knee on the man’s neck for more than four minutes as he was being held face down on the floor.

The lawsuit, which names defendants including the city of Sacramento, Universal Protection Service and security guards that firm employed, alleges that three guards and three police officers “unreasonably restrained” Mario Matthews after he was found inside the arena around 3:30 a.m. on July 2, 2019.

“The 125-pound Mario was being detained for potentially trespassing after entering the city-owned Golden 1 Center through a propped-open door less than five minutes prior,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Dale Galipo and Stewart Katz in federal court in Sacramento Tuesday night. “Mario was slammed face-down to the concrete floor, handcuffed with his hands behind his back and then with maximum restraints applied to him.

“Mario was restrained face-down for 20 minutes with as many as four people on top of him. For four of those minutes, a security guard had a knee on Mario’s neck. Mario displayed heavily labored breathing for most of this time before becoming non-responsive. All medical efforts proved futile.”

The allegation comes six weeks after worldwide protests erupted over the video of George Floyd dying May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as he was pinned handcuffed to the ground. Since then, police departments have moved to ban the use of chokeholds and knees on suspects’ necks.

Matthews, a 39-year-old warehouse worker, apparently had attended a concert the night of July 1 that was held following two basketball exhibition games held at Golden 1 featuring players from the Sacramento Kings and other NBA teams, the lawsuit says.

Matthews found a door to the arena that apparently had been propped open by a cleaning crew and went inside around 3:30 a.m. and made his way down to the basketball court, the lawsuit says.

“After entering the building, Mario went down to the basketball court,” the suit says. “He was shirtless and wearing sweatpants and red sneakers.

“Mario was spotted by Golden 1 Center employees who monitored him from a distance as he went down to the basketball court. Once on the court, he briefly lay down in the middle of the Sacramento Kings center court logo and then ran around the basketball court as if he were dribbling and shooting a basketball.”

Two security guards chased him down, grabbed him by the wrists and slammed his face into a wall, then tackled him face down to the concrete floor, where he was handcuffed, the suit says. One of the guards, Drake Quitugua, “later acknowledged that he took Mario ‘down pretty hard’” and then “used his right knee to apply pressure to the side of Mario’s neck for approximately four and (a) half minutes,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Quitugua was the night supervisor, despite having less than four months of security experience,” the lawsuit says. “His training consisted of a one-day class.”

Quitugua could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and Universal Protection Service, which does business in California as Allied Universal Security Service, issued an email statement saying that its security guards “responded to a trespasser acting erratically at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.”

“The individual refused to comply with instructions to leave the facility and appeared to threaten the Security Professionals,” the statement said. “They attempted to detain him pending the arrival of the police.

“He continued to actively resist efforts to restrain him until he was taken into custody by Sacramento Police. Due to the pending litigation involving this incident, we are unable to provide additional comment at this time.”

Tim Swanson, a spokesman for Sacramento’s city manager, said the city has received the lawsuit “and is in the process of evaluating it as well as the appropriate next steps.”

Matthews never regained consciousness and died two days later after being removed from life support.

Sacramento police released 19 video and four audio files last July from the incident which shows an officer arriving to find Matthews being held on the floor by three security guards in a hallway outside the visitor’s locker room.

“He is high,” one of the guards says on the video, which was released with faces of individuals blurred out.

The first officer directs Matthews to “chill out” and “knock it off,” but Matthews struggles and eventually police radio for “max restraints.”

Minutes later, as three officers wrap restraints around his legs, waist and arms, Matthews appears to become unresponsive.

“Alright, big dog, sit up,” one officer says. “Hey, look at me. Hey, hey.”

The video shows Matthews did not reply.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Matthews’ parents, says the coroner “acknowledged that the restraint was a cause of Mario’s death.”

“In total, Mario was handcuffed face-down, with his hands behind his back, and with as many as four men on his back, before becoming non-responsive after the ‘max restraints’ were applied,” the suit says. “This included four and a half minutes with defendant Quitugua compressing Mario’s neck.

“In addition to the injury or injuries that caused blood to come from Mario’s head and mouth, Mario sustained bruising and abrasions to his forehead, bruising, hemorrhaging and abrasions to his left wrist and right forearm, bruising and hemorrhaging to his right knee, both shins and both ankles. Additionally, the coroner’s pathologist noted deep bruising of Mario’s back as a result of the weight and pressure that had been placed upon him.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 12:24 PM.