‘Wonderful man’: Hayward man who died in police custody was combat veteran, father of 6

HAYWARD Cynthia Fernandez has had plenty of time over the past month to reflect on the years she knew her ex-husband and father of her son Nathan Hoang and to ponder exactly what happened the morning he was killed He was such a good man Nathan had a huge heart He cared for people he was kind He was reliably for doing the right thing Fernandez stated in an interview before addressing the circumstances around his death Even in that situation it s like that wasn t him That was his mental illness Hoang a -year-old Hayward native died nine days after a paramedic injected him with a controversial sedative that has been linked to other fatalities after a struggled with Hayward police on March He had reportedly shown up to a home in search of his children something his ex-wife says was a common reaction to psychosis and wrestled with officers until being tased handcuffed and placed on a gurney Minutes after a paramedic injected him with a syringe of midazolam Hoang went unresponsive and was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brain dead His death was kept a secret from the masses until the Bay Area News Group uncovered it The decision not to disclose what had happened Hayward s police chief announced in a message this week was due to the sensitive nature of the research But one thing that has been missing thus far is a look at Hoang s life and how he came to be on Virginia Street in Hayward that night We want people to know who Nathan was Fernandez commented He was a Marine who suffers from PTSD and he was having a mental breakdown Hoang who leaves behind six children grew up in Hayward and enlisted into the U S Marine Corps practically out of high school at age The year was when the country was gearing up for two wars in the Middle East Hoang soon identified himself among the tens of thousands of soldiers stationed overseas He returned from two combat tours in Iraq a changed man Fernandez reported The war took a toll on him she announced I wish I would have urged him for stories He never shared anything in detail with me I know he lost a lot of buddies out there Other fellow soldiers he knew died by suicide after returning home she stated Hoang was given an honorable discharge for disabilities due to his post traumatic stress disorder Back in the Bay Area he and Fernandez met fell in love got married and had a child For my son this is a huge loss Not only did he lose his father but the way that he lost his father Fernandez declared Hoang was a wonderful man wonderful father to all his kids Hoang s death remains under research Police have placed a hold preventing the coroner from releasing information but the police description says Hoang was animated until eight minutes after a Falck ambulance employee injected him with midazolam Hoang then yelled that he couldn t breathe and became unresponsive seven minutes later according to executives Sold under the brand name Versed midazolam was the subject of an Associated Press analysis last year that identified instances across the United States from to where a person died in police custody after being injected with it Sixteen of those deaths occurred in California including in Oakland Richmond Pleasanton and San Francisco The role sedatives may have played in each of the deaths was impossible to determine the AP revealed Anatomical experts notified the AP that the drug s impact could be negligible in people who already were dying the final straw that triggered heart or breathing failure in the medically distressed or the main cause of death when given in the wrong circumstances or mishandled Hayward police Chief Bryan Matthews mentioned in a message the analysis remains underway and that the Alameda County District Attorney s Office is conducting a probe Hayward Police Department investigators and investigators from other involved agencies are still in the fact-finding phases of this inspection There is much we do not know and a great number of questions that still must be answered Matthews reported A spokesperson for Falck declared privacy laws prevent the ambulance company from discussing any care we provide a person but added that Falck stands behind the care provided by our dedicated paramedics and EMTs across Alameda County The details around Hoang s death echo similar incidents involving military veterans Last year the city of Antioch paid million to settle a lawsuit by the family of a Navy veteran Angelo Quinto who died in a struggled with police officers who restrained him and sat on his legs In the city of Alameda paid in a similar settlement to the family of Shelby Gattenby an Iraq War veteran who served in the Navy and died in a struggle which included use of a stun gun with four Alameda officers Like Quinto Hoang had been diagnosed with a mental vitality disorder Fernandez explained Hoang sought out drugs police say he appeared high on methamphetamine which was determined in his car to deal with PTSD but it made things worse He would cycle through year-long periods of sobriety then relapse Often during times of psychosis he would imagine threats to his family she mentioned His mind would go back to being back in Iraq And for chosen reason he d be looking for his children every time Fernandez commented That s what she believes he was doing on March during the a m struggle with police and paramedics He thought his children were in danger that night He went back to war that night she reported His thoughts were Where s my family are they safe '