RICHMOND, Calif. —

In 2020 and 2021 two San Francisco Bay area men died in the same city under eerily similar circumstances during struggles with police. Both were in mental distress, according to witnesses and family members. Both were physically restrained by officers. And both stopped breathing soon after being forcibly sedated by paramedics.

In both cases, the police officers and paramedics were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, much to the dismay of their family members. One family has filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit that’s expected to go to trial in February.

But despite the similarities, a Richmondside in-depth review of these cases uncovered some key differences in how they were investigated by the Contra Costa County coroner, who has declined multi

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