A 30-year-old Northern California man undergoing a mental health episode died days after police officers kneeled on the back of his neck for nearly five minutes to subdue him, lawyers for his family said.
Angelo Quinto had been "suffering from anxiety, depression, and paranoia for the previous few months," his family's attorneys said in a wrongful death claim, filed on February 18 [2021].
His sister Isabella Collins called police to their Antioch, California, home on December 23 [2020] because she feared he would hurt their mother, family lawyer John L. Burris said during a February 18 press conference.
Before police arrived, Quinto's mother had been holding him to her chest with her hands clasped around his back for a few minutes, and "he had already started to calm down," the claim stated. When two officers from the Antioch Police Department arrived, Burris said they made no attempt to understand the situation and instead, immediately grabbed Quinto from his mother's arms.
Quinto lost consciousness and was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead three days later, family attorneys say in the claim.
… Quinto's mother used her cell phone to record part of the incident.
"What happened?," she says breathlessly as Quinto is seen not moving and laying on his front. Officers roll him over to carry his body out, and his face is bloody. He is moved to a gurney and paramedics administer chest compressions on Quinto as his mother records on her phone, asking questions (Chan and Asmelash 1).
"He said 'Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me,' as they were putting him on the ground. They handcuffed him and one officer put his knee on the back of his neck the whole time I was in the room," said Quinto's mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins.
Quinto-Collins said she had been hugging her son and he was calm when officers arrived at their home in Antioch, 45 miles east of San Francisco.
"I trusted the police because I thought they knew what they were doing but he was actually passive and visibly not dangerous or a threat so, it was absolutely unnecessary what they did to him," she said.
A video recorded by Quinto-Collins shows her son listless, with a bloodied face and his hands cuffed behind his back. She said she began recording after seeing her son's eyes were rolled up in his head.
The family filed a legal claim against the Antioch Police Department last week, which gives the department 45 days to respond. After that time has elapsed, the family will file a federal lawsuit, said John Burris, the Quintos' attorney (Navy 1).
Video recorded by Quinto-Collins — posted online by the family’s lawyer and presented at a press conference last week by the attorney — appears to show the incident.
…
Officers and paramedics appear in the video to lift Quinto out of the room onto a gurney where paramedics performed chest compressions. Quinto did not seem to be conscious or responsive in the video.
He was later taken to a hospital where he “never regained consciousness” and died three days later, the lawsuit says (Madani 1-2).
[Here is the mother’s video of the officers’ removal of Angelo’s unconscious body. Paste the following on Google]
VIDEO: Angelo Quinto lies bleeding on floor after incident with ...
The officers asked Quinto-Collins to step aside so they could put handcuffs on him. Quinto-Collins said that moments later, she watched as an officer pinned her son’s neck with a knee for nearly five minutes while another officer restrained his legs — a description that closely mirrors the police killing of George Floyd, whose death sparked nationwide protests for racial justice last summer.
However, the Antioch Police Department says the officer applied his knee for only a few seconds “across a portion of Angelo’s shoulder blade.”
“At no point did any officer use a knee or other body parts to gain leverage or apply pressure to Angelo’s head, neck, or throat, which is outside of our policy and training,” Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks said during Tuesday’s news conference, adding that the investigation is still ongoing.
Although Quinto-Collins did not capture the alleged knee-pinning part of the encounter, the video begins when officers realized Quinto was unresponsive, prompting them to remove his handcuffs. ...
Police didn’t disclose Quinto’s death until nearly a month after the incident, when the Mercury News began reporting the story in January. Quinto’s family filed a wrongful death claim— a precursor to a formal lawsuit — against the city in February, alleging that the use of police force ultimately led to his death.
“I should not, nor should anyone else, ever have to regret calling the police when they are supposed to be the people that help you,” Isabella Collins, Quinto’s sister, told NBC Bay Area (Ramirez 1).
John Burris, the Quintos' attorney, said along with claims of a knee restraint, there were other issues with the officers' response, including how they didn't try to de-escalate and first talk to Quinto, and how they failed to turn on their body cameras and the camera in their patrol car (Police 1).
Quinto, who was born in the Philippines, was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2019 because of a food allergy, said his sister, Bella Collins.
He suffered from depression most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent assault in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital not remembering what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. After that, he began having episodes of paranoia and anxiety, she said.
Collins, 18, said she now regrets calling the police after worrying her brother, who before police arrived was tightly hugging her and their mom, could hurt their mother.
"I asked the detectives if there was another number I should have called, and they told me that there wasn't and that I did the right thing. But right now I can tell you that the right thing would not have killed my brother," she said (Rodriguez 1).
Quinto’s death also comes as anti-Asian sentiment and attacks are on the rise. According to Stop AAPI Hate, an organization that tracks reports of anti-Asian violence, roughly 3,000 verbal and physical attacks against Asian Americans have occurred since last spring. More recently, a Filipino man’s face was slashed as he rode the subway in New York; an elderly Thai man was aggressively shoved to the ground in San Francisco, which resulted in his death; and a Chinese woman was pushed against a newsstand outside a New York City bakery.
Recent protests have called attention not only to the uptick in anti-Asian violence but also the harmful stereotypes and sentiments woven into America’s fiber. On one hand, Asians are seen as “forever foreigners” who are “dirty” and eat “smelly” foods; on the other, they are “model minorities” who have risen above discrimination to become successful engineers and doctors, living “the American dream.” None of which shows the reality and nuance of the roughly 40 ethnic groups that make up the “Asian American” category, or the 12 percent who live in poverty, or the South and Southeast Asians who are often darker-skinned and suffer the most from anti-Asian sentiment.
For now, activists will continue to protest, and Quinto’s family will continue to fight through legal action. “The road to justice is not easy but we will continue to fight for justice for Angelo and justice for all,” Quinto’s family said Wednesday in an Instagram post. “We have no doubt that the truth will prevail” (Ramirez 5).
Without a doubt, Quinto’s physical appearance as a man of color affected the police officers’ decision to use a deadly restraining method though he was not resisting. By not acknowledging Quinto’s identity as an Asian American who was born in the Philippines, one is erasing a critical aspect of who he was, how he lived, and how he died.
This racial erasure is not new. Asian Americans are often left out of the racial discourse that operates on a white-Black binary. I [Pearl Lo] understand this because whites see Blackness as the antithesis of their whiteness and corresponding superiority. White supremacy thrives primarily off of Black dehumanization. You cannot talk about race without discussing whiteness and Blackness, nor should you.
However, Asian Americans need to be cemented in their identity as people of color, because we cannot continue to be bystanders to hate against us or our Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) peers. We have to insert ourselves into the racial dialogue– not to make it all about Asians, but to use our identities to fight with our BIPOC siblings against racism. We cannot afford to be apathetic to this violence and erasure. Be angry that Angelo Quinto was murdered. Be angry that his Asianness was not deemed newsworthy. And be angry that this happens to Black folk unceasingly.
First, Asia, like many other parts of the world, has a long history of white colonialism. Asians in a global context have been harmed tremendously by white supremacy for centuries. There is also a long and painful history of anti-Asian racism and discrimination in the United States that is intentionally forgotten. Ignoring this history contributes to the erasure of who we are as Asians and Asian Americans.
Second, it is important to keep in mind how diverse the Asian, Pacific Island, and Desi American (APIDA) community truly is. Asian America is much more than the stereotypical doctor of East Asian descent that you see on TV. While Angelo Quinto might not look like your “typical” Asian American, he is certainly a part of our APIDA community. It is necessary to acknowledge our unique customs, languages, and cultures even when we unite as a collective Asian America.
Third, it is essential to check your own biases and admit when you have been wrong, especially on issues of race. Doing so allows you to move forward more aware and informed of how pervasive racism is and how you can work to dismantle this system. It is certainly not easy to admit on a national outlet that I have made racial assumptions about a Filipino American man and contributed to the erasure of an essential identity. But I do so in the hope that you will also confront your biases and consistently strive to educate and better yourself (Lo 1-2).
… only a week later, a second man, 33-year-old Arturo Gomez Calel, died during an apparent crisis when Antioch police deployed a Taser during a struggle in the street.
The two incidents have raised questions about transparency, accountability and the role of law enforcement in a city that has seen rapid demographic changes and resisted police reforms until just recently.
The deaths have also highlighted a larger push for cities to adopt non-police response units to respond to people in crisis.
"It was clear that we needed to have a different environment that our police department was operating under," said Mayor Lamar Thorpe, who was elected in November after running on a platform of police reform.
Those reform efforts are now being closely watched following the deaths of Quinto and Calel. Prior to his election, a then white-majority city council rejected efforts to bring even basic reforms to the department.
For decades Antioch was a predominantly white, working-class community on the outskirts of the Bay Area along the Delta. But as home prices have increased and populations have shifted, Antioch has begun to look a lot more like the rest of the Bay Area.
According to the last census, more than a third of the city is Latino and more than 20% is Black – more than double what it was in 2000.
"It was clear that the leadership was so out of touch and their values were just inconsistent with where the community was at large," Thorpe said in a recent interview with KTVU.
The council recently made good on plans to equip officers with body-worn cameras – something most Bay Area agencies have had for years.
The city is now developing an independent police oversight commission. It’s also exploring alternative non-police options for some mental health calls.
"Law enforcement -- in most situations where the person is unarmed -- needs to be taken out of the response," said Gigi Crowder, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Contra Costa County.
She lives in Antioch and has been working to train officers in how to respond to crisis calls. But in most cases, she said they shouldn’t even be showing up in the first place.
"When someone is unarmed and not a danger, it could be handled with a social worker. It could be handled with a peer," she said (Sernoffsky 1).
Works cited:
Chan, Stella and Asmelash, Leah. “Man Dies after Police Kneel on His Neck for Nearly 5 Minutes, Family Says in Wrongful Death Claim.” CNN, updated February 24, 2021. Net. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/angelo-quinto-antioch-police-department-death-trnd/index.html
Lo, Pearl. “Where Is the Outrage over Angelo Quinto’s Murder?” Diverse, March 8, 2021. Net. https://diverseeducation.com/article/207631/
Madani, Doha. California Navy Vet Died after Police Knelt on Neck amid Mental Health Crisis, Family Says.” NBC News, February 24, 2021. Net. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-navy-vet-died-after-police-knelt-neck-amid-mental-n1258781
“Navy Veteran Died after Police Knelt on His Neck for Nearly 5 Minutes, Family Says.” CBS News, February 24, 2021. Net. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/angelo-quinto-navy-veteran-death-police/
“Police Say No Illegal Knee-on-Neck Chokeholds Used on Angelo Quinto after Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit.” 11ABC, March 3, 2021. Net. https://abc11.com/angelo-quinto-wrongful-death-lawsuit-knee-on-neck-chockhold-george-floyd/10385543/
Ramirez, Rachel. “Angelo Quinto’s Family Says He Died after Police Pinned Him by His Neck. Police Deny They Did Anything Wrong.” Vox, March 3, 2021. Net. https://www.vox.com/2021/3/3/22311360/angelo-quinto-police-asian-violence
Rodriguez, Olga R. “Family: Navy Vet Died after Police Knelt on His Neck.” KATU2, February 24, 2021. Net. https://katu.com/news/nation-world/family-navy-vet-died-after-police-knelt-on-his-neck-02-24-2021
Sernoffsky, Evan. “Two Recent In-Custody Deaths Put Spotlight on Antioch Police as City Pushes Reforms.” KTVU, March 29, 2021. Net. https://www.ktvu.com/news/two-recent-in-custody-deaths-put-spotlight-on-antioch-police-as-city-pushes-reforms
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