Angelo Quinto's family files wrongful death lawsuit against a California police department

JOHN BURRIS

A tearful Isabella Collins, sister of Angelo Quinto, spoke at a press conference Monday.

The family of a Filipino American man who died while being restrained by police filed a lawsuit Monday in Antioch, a suburb east of Oakland, CA.

Angelo Quinto, 30, was experiencing a mental health crisis ion Dec. 23, last year, when police, who were called by Quinto family members, arrived. The officers restrained him, having him face down.

Quinto’s mother and sister noted that they were horrified when the officers suddenly and without warning violently grabbed her son from her arms cuffed him and took him down to the bedroom floor.

Quinto pleaded with the cops “Please don’t kill me,” at least twice before being put in a prone position, face down, according to his family.

ANGELO QUINTO

The family's attorney, John Burris, said that records obtained by his office show that police lied to paramedics when they said  Quinto was high on methamphetamine and struggled with them while he was being restrained. 

An independent autopsy showed Quinto had no drugs in his system and his eyes had petechial hemorrhaging – tell-tale signs of asphyxia, said Burris.

By the time the medical techs arrived and moved him to another room, it was clear that Quinto's body was limp and he was unconscious, according to a video taken by Quinto's mother.

The EMTs brought Angelo Quinto to a local hospital where staff declared his death three days later.

The APD did not release details of the incident until a month later and only after a reporter began making inquiries.

In a March press conference, Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks, said, "At no point did any officer use a knee, or other body part to gain leverage or apply pressure to Angelo's head, neck, or throat."

Neither the APD or city officials responded to the claims put forth by the lawsuit. 

The official cause and manner of death will be determined during a coroner’s inquest that is scheduled to begin in Contra Costa County Superior Court on Aug. 20.

“Death is permanent and we’re never ever going to get his smile back or he’s never going to irritate me again,” said Isabella Collins, Angelo's sister, at a Monday press conference. “I miss that a lot. I wanted to see him old, I didn’t expect to go to his funeral at 18. He didn’t deserve what happened to him and nobody deserves — it hurts to remember him, it hurts to remember how he went. “