Overview:
In 2021, Concord nurse and father of two Ivan Gutzalenko died after being restrained by Richmond police and forcibly sedated by a paramedic.
His family filed a civil rights lawsuit, and a trial is taking place this week and next in federal court in San Francisco.
Richmondside examined this issue, including the similar death of Jose Lopez in 2020, in a five-part series that was published in 2025.
A Richmond police officer who helped restrain Concord nurse Ivan Gutzalenko in the moments before his death broke down in tears while testifying in a federal civil rights trial, insisting he was only trying to help Gutzalenko, who stopped breathing after being forcibly sedated by a paramedic.
Tom Tran is among three Richmond police officers taking the stand this week in the wrongful death lawsuit claiming that “unconstitutional” policies and a lack of training led to Gutzalenko’s death in 2021.
The complaint, filed on behalf of the family of Gutzalenko, a registered nurse and father of two, alleges that the city and then Richmond police Bisa Chief French maintained unconstitutional policies that permitted excessive force and failed to train officers on positional asphyxia risks, pointing to three Richmond deaths involving similar prone restraint techniques: Alan Arce and Uriah Dach in 2008, whose families settled their cases for $250,000 and $1.5 million, respectively; and Jose Luis Lopez in 2020. While French recently retired, Richmond’s new police chief, Timothy Simmons, has been attending this week’s court proceedings.
Richmondside examined the Lopez and Gutzalenko cases in a five-part series, “Restrained and Sedated,” in 2025. (Read the whole series here.)
Gutzalenko, 47, died on March 10, 2021 within 90 minutes of the incident, which began after witnesses reported that he was acting erratically and bleeding from a cut while walking in and out of several Richmond businesses along San Pablo Avenue near Solano Avenue. His family later told investigators that he had struggled for years with substance abuse and mental health issues.
When Tran responded to what authorities described as reports of vandalism and theft, Gutzalenko collapsed on a sidewalk, telling Tran he was having trouble breathing. He was initially cooperative, thanking Tran, who can be heard promising to help him, but he began objecting when another Richmond officer, Mark Hall, suggested putting him on a “5150” psychiatric hold.
As Tran, Hall and officer Cedric Tagorda struggled to hold down and handcuff Gutzalenko, American Medical Response (AMR) paramedic Damon Richardson injected him with a commonly used sedative called midazolam. Gutzalenko soon stopped breathing and was taken to an Oakland hospital where he was pronounced dead. Contra Costa County authorities would later rule that his death was accidental, a result of being restrained while under the influence of methamphetamine.
Hall, a 20-year veteran of the department, retired in 2023 while Tran and Tagorda are still employed. Hall’s LinkedIn states that he’s a part-time per diem instructor for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department.
In 2022, Gutzalenko’s estranged wife, Honey Gutzalenko, filed the lawsuit naming the three officers and the paramedic, saying that the city’s policies permitted “excessive” force and failed to train officers on positional asphyxia risks.
According to her attorney, Ben Nisenbaum, the family reached a settlement with Richardson last Wednesday before the trial began.
Richmond officer breaks down on stand, saying he was trying to help Ivan Gutzalenko
Tran broke down in tears on the witness stand Tuesday, saying he was trying to help Gutzalenko.
“I was trying my best to make him compliant,” Tran said, his voice cracking. “I wanted to help him.”
The emotional testimony marked the third day of a trial that has produced wrenching moments for both sides. Gutzalenko’s son was in court Tuesday but repeatedly stepped out whenever attorneys played body camera footage of his father’s final moments.
Tran, who at the time of Gutzalenko’s death had recently gone on solo duty after about six months of field training, testified that he called for an ambulance within seconds of arriving at the scene because it appeared that Gutzalenko was having a medical emergency.
“Once I realized it wasn’t a criminal investigation I shifted to a medical investigation,” Tran said. “I knew that he was not in a normal condition based on his symptoms and his collapsing.”
But Nisenbaum pressed Tran repeatedly on the fact that he had a knee against Gutzalenko’s back — a key issue in determining if officers used excessive force.
Police body camera footage shows Tran’s knee on Gutzalenko’s back for at least 10 seconds, contradicting Tran’s initial estimate of doing so for “a couple seconds.” The video showed the pressure left a visible circular impression on Gutzalenko’s shirt where the contact occurred — something Nisenbaum focused on while questioning Tran and Hall.
“At no point did I drive my knee into his back,” Tran maintained, saying any pressure was incidental when Gutzalenko tried to push upward. With Gutzalenko weighing 240 pounds, Tran said he believed significant pressure would have left a more obvious impression on Gutzalenko’s body.
Tran testified that he needed to handcuff Gutzalenko because the paramedics wouldn’t treat him otherwise. He acknowledged considering a 5150 hold — an involuntary psychiatric detention — but said his primary concern was getting Gutzalenko medical help.
“Sometimes you need to protect people from themselves, which is why we have 5150,” Tran said. “Mr. Gutzalenko needed help so I made the decision for that.”
Nisenbaum challenged Tran’s account that Gutzalenko went limp moments after he was sedated by a paramedic. In his initial interview with investigators and later in his deposition, Tran said he felt Gutzalenko “go limp” before the injection, but on Tuesday he said Gutzalenko “stopped resisting.”
Nisenbaum also focused on body camera footage that captured exchanges between the officers about Gutzalenko’s condition. When Gutzalenko asked if Tran was a “nice guy,” Hall responded by mentioning “incarceritis” — suggesting people fake medical issues as a “get out of jail free card.”
Under questioning Monday, Hall acknowledged his “poor choice” of words at the moment. He agreed with Nisenbaum that Gutzalenko had a faint blue hue to his face before they began restraining him.
Tran testified Tuesday that he considered the possibility that Gutzalenko was faking his breathing difficulties but didn’t entirely dismiss or ignore his medical complaints. He said officers deal with people who sometimes claim they can’t breathe to get officers to back off, though he acknowledged “it doesn’t happen all the time.”
“Faking wasn’t out of my mind,” Tran said. “I didn’t entirely dismiss it but didn’t entirely ignore it.”
Doctors give slightly differing opinions on what caused Gutzalenko’s death
Dr. Arnold Josselson, the Contra Costa County coroner who performed the autopsy, testified Tuesday that Gutzalenko died from “prone restraint asphyxia and cardiac arrest” while under the influence of methamphetamine. Gutzalenko’s position face-down, combined with his large belly, prevented proper breathing and caused fatal metabolic acidosis — a buildup of acid in the blood, Josselson said.
Dr. Francisco Diaz, another expert witnesses called up by the plaintiffs, attributed Gutzalenko’s death to restraint asphyxia, testifying that Gutzalenko’s position and the officers’ contact with his body prevented adequate breathing.
Under cross-examination by the defendants’ attorney, Kevin Gilbert, Diaz challenged assertions from emergency room physicians and paramedics, who disagreed that asphyxia caused Gutzalenko’s death. He said medical professionals should “stay in their lanes” and that death investigations differ from clinical assessments.
The defense focused heavily on the amount of methamphetamine found in Gutzalenko’s blood and his complaints of breathing difficulty before officers restrained him. However, Diaz said overdoses are a combination of individual factors.
“Could he have died the next day? We don’t know because the next day never came,” Diaz testified Monday. “We don’t know, he didn’t have the chance.”
Gilbert said Gutzalenko’s elevated potassium levels, kidney problems and high methamphetamine concentration caused his heart to stop, not excessive police restraint, pointing to emergency room records and police video footage that showed Gutzalenko complained he couldn’t breathe before officers restrained him.
But Josselson testified that the methamphetamine was a contributing factor, not the primary cause, saying Gutzalenko’s kidneys appeared normal during the autopsy and that the elevated potassium was from the cardiac arrest rather than causing it.
“Just because it was a high meth level doesn’t mean it caused his death,” Josselson said, noting he has seen higher levels in people who died from other causes.
On Monday, Hall testified he ordered Gutzalenko handcuffed within six seconds of arriving at the scene. Video footage captured Hall threatening to use a Taser on Gutzalenko, which Hall described as a “deescalation technique” meant to encourage compliance.
Hall, who was Tran’s field training officer, said he saw Tran use his knee to “anchor” Gutzalenko’s body but didn’t see him applying downward pressure. Hall acknowledged Gutzalenko had multiple risk factors for asphyxia including his physical size, what was later found to be drug intoxication and face-down position.
Tran grew emotional Tuesday when he was asked about his decision to become a police officer. He recalled that he didn’t like law enforcement growing up in East Oakland until Richmond police visited his high school. In a YouTube video titled “We are Richmond,” posted May 18, 2021, two months after Gutzalenko died, Tran recalls growing up in subsidized housing and surviving on food stamps. He said the opportunity to get food drew him to volunteer with the Richmond Police Department, he said in the video.
“They took care of me when my parents couldn’t, and I’m grateful for that,” Tran said.
Tagorda, an 18-year Richmond police veteran, will continue his testimony today, and it’s expected that Gutzalenko’s family members will take the stand as well.
The trial is expected to conclude next week.
