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| Angelo Quinto did not offer any resistance as officers restrained him. |
Emotions ran high as the crowd softly changed, "Say His Name," as California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the Angelo Quinto Act, which bars police use of certain restraining holds that have been blamed for the deaths of people in their custody.
"Today marks another step toward healing and justice for all," Newsom said in a statement. "Too many lives have been lost due to racial profiling and excessive use of force."
The mother of 30-year old Angelo Quinto, Sandra Quinto Collins, burst into tears Thursday (Sept. 30) and was hugged by Newsom before other family members told how he died after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck during a mental health crisis just before Christmas last year. The new law, AB490, will restrict such face-down holds that can cause what’s known as positional asphyxia.
The Contra Costa County coroner alleges that Navy veteran Angelo Quinto, a Filipino American, who was experiencing a mental health episode, died from positional asphyxia while Antioch police officers tried to restrain him even though he was not resisting. Sometime during restraining action. Quinto stopped breathing and by the time emergency medical technicians arrived, he was unconscious.
AB490 was part of a series of bills that would place new restrictions on police officers, including new educational requirements and prevent hiring officers who in the past unnecessarily used excessive force.
“We are in a crisis of trust when it comes to law enforcement right now, across the state, across the nation,” said Filipino American Attorney General Rob Bonta, who supported the bills. “We’re delivering concrete solutions from banning dangerous holds that lead to asphyxia to multiple other mechanisms that improve accountability and oversight and transparency.”
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