Floyd's death evokes memories of Antioch police case

ANTIOCH, Calif. - When Malad Baldwin of Antioch saw the video showing what happened to George Floyd, he was crushed.

"Yeah I seen it," Baldwin said. "It's the same thing. Same thing that happened to me."

Back in 2014, Baldwin says he, too was the victim of police brutality. During the confrontation, he said an Antioch police officer put a knee on the back of his neck.

"What they did to me, you know? I wasn't no criminal. I wasn't doing no crime, anyways," he said.

Antioch police say Baldwin was drunk, acting erratically and violently resisted police.

Baldwin says an officer yanked him from his mother's car and slammed him face first into the ground.

He said a second officer then put his knee on the back of his neck, forcing his head to scrape the pavement.

Baldwin says both officers then punched him.

Baldwin's mother, Kathryn Wade came outside when she heard the commotion.

"Malad was on the ground, unconscious, with two officers on him, bleeding from the face," Wade said.

Wade said her son wasn't moving.

"I'm saying, 'Malad wake up! Please, Malad wake up!'"

Wade said, "The officer on his neck never got off my son's neck."

Mother and son filed a federal civil rights lawsuit. The case settled.

In court papers, attorneys for the city said Baldwin was drunk and had been wandering the street yelling at people. They said police used force because he violently fought with the officers.

A source close to the incident rejected any comparison to the Floyd case.

But mother and son said they do see similarities.

"For me to witness George Floyd on that floor, on that ground, being murdered, what grown man is calling out to his mother?" Wade said.

Baldwin said, "The only words that he had to say is, he cried for his mama. The only thing I could do was to try to turn my head to look at my mama."

Although her son is alive, Wade says they're both scarred.

"My son had dreams and aspirations. This is what I remember my son as being," said Wade, holding up a picture of Baldwin in a cap and gown at graduation.

The case was in litigation in federal court for two years before attorneys announced a settlement. The two Antioch officers involved in the incident were not disciplined and remain on the force.