The Facts | JfAQ

What happened

On the night of December 23rd, and afterward

On the night of December 23, 2020, at 11:00 p.m., Angelo Quinto experienced a mental health crisis while at home with his sister and mother. He was experiencing extreme paranoia, and when his paranoia was exacerbated, his sister called 911 for help.

When the police arrived at the family’s home that night, Angelo had calmed down and was being restrained by his mother in a bear hug on the floor of her bedroom. He had no weapons, he was not violent, and he had a documented history of mental illness.

Without speaking to Angelo, Antioch police officers took him from his mother’s arms and put him face down on the floor. Angelo was not resisting as he said “Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me.” While one officer crossed and folded Angelo’s legs, pinning them against his back, another officer handcuffed him and placed his knee on the back of Angelo’s neck.

At the end of the hall, his sister overheard officers saying something akin to “This is what we do to calm them down.”

For minutes, the officers continued to converse. At some point the officers switched positions, but continued the prone neck restraint. Throughout the duration of the prone restraint, an officer maintained a position on the back of Angelo’s neck. During this period, they spoke to his mother, acknowledging that he didn’t belong in jail, and that an ambulance was on its way to take him to the hospital. They directed two idle questions to Angelo, and did not address his lack of response.

During at least the last four-and-a-half-minutes of this restraint, Angelo was completely unresponsive.

When the paramedics arrived, the officers turned Angelo over. His eyes were rolled up in his head, and blood was coming from his face. (Later, in the hospital, they would have to tape his eyes shut, as they wouldn’t close on their own.) Angelo was not breathing, and his heart had stopped.

After taking off his handcuffs and placing him on a gurney in the hallway, the medical team began chest compressions. Angelo died during the restraint. Though CPR restarted his heart, and life support kept his body alive, Angelo never became responsive and for all intents and purposes died in his family home during the restraint.

After Angelo was taken to the hospital, his mother and sister were taken to the police station where they were questioned. They were there for four hours, and denied access to any official information about Angelo’s condition, and even rushed off the phone when they received a call from the hospital. Officers and detectives maintained that he was fine.

At the same time, for more than eight hours the family’s home was searched under a felony search warrant by the Antioch Police Department, and his room ransacked while Angelo’s family was made to wait in the driveway.

His family eventually received another call from the hospital, this time learning that Angelo’s doctor couldn’t “even believe he [was] still alive.” Despite this, another officer negated the statement, again stating that Angelo was fine, and even claiming he’d seen Angelo. Angelo was not fine, and never became responsive again after becoming unresponsive during the restraint.

Initially, the family was denied access to Angelo at the hospital, while members of the Antioch Police Department misled and prevented them from learning about Angelo’s medical condition.

Later, the family was denied access to:
- Angelo’s toxicology report
- fluid and tissue samples necessary to complete independent toxicology and autopsy reports

Before his official death, doctors told his family that he had little brain activity and no reflexes other than a faint heartbeat reflex. The hospital kept Angelo’s heart beating with 16 drugs until his organs ultimately failed, and he was declared dead on December 26, 2020.

Angelo’s medical condition followed a typical course of asphyxiation during restraint. The mechanism of asphyxiation is expected to be detailed by the independent pathologist his family has retained to determine his cause of death once testing the toxicology samples and fluid and tissue samples finally recently provided to the pathologist in April are completed.

Angelo’s death is still under investigation, and although the family is still waiting on autopsy results, they believe he died of asphyxiation while in police custody.