A Navy veteran who was going through an episode of paranoia died after a Northern California police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, his family said Tuesday. Angelo Quinto’s family called the police on December 23 because the 30-year-old was experiencing a mental health crisis and needed help.
His family says a responding officer knelt on Quinto’s neck for nearly five minutes while another officer restrained his legs. Quinto lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital by ambulance, where he died three days later.
“He said, ‘Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me’, as they put him on the ground. They handcuffed him and an officer put his knee on his neck the whole time I was in the room,” said Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins.
Cassandra Quinto-Collins / AP
Quinto-Collins said she cuddled her son and he was calm when officers arrived at their home in Antioch, 70 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 there was absolutely no need for what they were doing to him,” she said.
A video recorded by Quinto-Collins shows her son listless, with a bloodied face and his hands handcuffed behind his back. She said she started recording after seeing her son’s eyes rolled up in his head.
The family filed a legal claim against Antioch police last week, which gives the department 45 days to respond. After that time has passed, the family will file a federal lawsuit, said John Burris, the Quintos’ attorney.
“I call it the George Floyd technique, that’s what numbed the life out of him and that can’t be a legal technique,” said Burris. “We see not only violations of his civil rights, but also violations of the rights of his mother and sister, who have seen what happened to him.”
Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 in Minneapolis after one Police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed and said he couldn’t breathe.
Burris said there were other issues with the agents’ response, including how they tried not to de-escalate and talk to Quinto first, and how they couldn’t turn on their body cameras and the camera in their patrol car.
A cause of death has not been released by authorities, and an independent autopsy is pending, Burris said.
Antioch police did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The department did not notify the public of Quinto’s death until January 25 when it answered questions from East Bay Times.
After the legal claim was filed Thursday, Antioch Police Lieutenant Tarra Mendes told the newspaper that “the investigation is still ongoing. We want it to be finalized. Once it is finalized, we can provide more information to the public.”
Born in the Philippines, Quinto was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2019 due to a food allergy, his sister Bella Collins said.
He had suffered from depression for most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent attack in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital with no memory of what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. Then he had episodes of paranoia and anxiety, she said.
Collins, 18, said she now regrets calling the police after worrying about her brother, who before the police arrived, hugged her and their mother tightly and could hurt their mother.
‘I asked the detectives if there was another number I should have called, and they told me there wasn’t and that I was doing the right thing. But now I can tell you the right thing wouldn’t have killed my brother, ”she said.