Angelo Quinto vigil calls for justice and police reform

SCREEN CAPTURE / KTVU

Family members at the vigil for Angelo Quinto

Angelo Quinto would have been 31 years old Wednesday. Instead about a hundred of his friends and supporters from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area gathered in the Antioch City Park to show support for police reform and demand justice.

"I should have told him he was getting really old. Without a single doubt in my mind that he would live to see his face wrinkle and his hair turn gray," says Bella Collins, Quinto's sister.

Quinto died after a mental health episode to which Antioch police responded last Dec. 23. During the episode, one of the officers reportedly placed a knee on the back of his neck for five minutes, say family members. 

The Filipino American Navy veteran became unconscious and was bleeding from his mouth by the time paramedics arrived. He was taken to a local hospital and died three days later.

At a candlelight vigil honoring him Wednesday evening, speakers, which included family members, called for police reform.

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe says changes are coming. The day before, the Antioch City Council approved the purchase of body cameras and dash cameras for police vehicles plus the hiring two additional staff to monitor and service the new equipment.

The cameras could come online as early as this summer, says city staff.

Other demands by Quinto's supporters but not addressed at the city council meeting  include the creation of a non-police response for 911 calls for mental health episodes and an independent body to investigate police misconduct.

"We don't have time to wait. We have to have a mental health response team out there in the community immediately," says Thorpe. The mayor said he is talking to several nonprofits about working with the city to answer those calls. The city council will vote on this reform at their March 23 meeting.

Last week, Antioch Police Chief Tamany Brooks revealed findings of the Sheriff's Office that Quinto's air passage and arteries were not damaged as a result of the officers' actions and at no time was a knee placed on his neck. He did say that for a "few seconds," a knee was placed his shoulder blades.

The county coroners' report on the actual cause of death has not been completed.

The family has filed a wrongful death complaint against the APD, usually a precursor to a lawsuit.