More than three years after watching her brother die during a standoff with police at her family’s California home, Bella Quinto Collins said her brother’s last words still haunt her.
“Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me,” pleaded Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Navy veteran, as officers reportedly took turns restraining his brother with their knees on the back of their necks, according to Bella. Quinto Collins.
Bella said she called the police because Angelo was experiencing a paranoia episode. When police arrived, she said her brother had calmed down in his mother’s arms.
“When (police) arrived, they had recognized that it was a mental health crisis,” Bella Quinto Collins told ABC News of the deadly Dec. 23, 2020, episode that took place. held in Antioch, California.
John Burris, an attorney who represented the Quinto family in a lawsuit filed against the city of Antioch, told ABC News that Angelo Quinto died needlessly.
“(The officers) knew (he) was mentally impaired. They were aggressive when they shouldn’t have been,” Burris said.
Angelo Quinto family attorney John Burris, left, with Angelo’s stepfather, Robert Collins, center, is joined by Angelo’s sister, Bella Quinto Collins, second from left, and mother d’Angelo, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, second from right, at a news conference in Oakland. California, September 7, 2022.
Janie Har/AP, FILE
A coroner’s report concluded that Angelo died of asphyxiation because he was held in a prone position. An autopsy ordered by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office found the cause of death to be excited delirium syndrome, according to the county news release.
Former Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks responded to the allegations during a March 2021 press conference.
“At no time did any officer use their knee or other body parts to gain leverage or apply pressure to Angelo’s head, neck or throat, which is not consistent with our policy and to our training,” Brooks said.
Representatives of the Antioch Police Department declined ABC News’ request for comment.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office said in 2022 that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the officers involved in Angelo’s case based on the autopsy and an analysis of the meeting between the police and Angelo.
“The method used by Antioch police officers to subdue Angelo Quinto on December 23 was objectively reasonable given the totality of the circumstances,” the prosecutor’s office said.
In the United States, nearly one in four people who died at the hands of police officers suffered from a mental health condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Now, some law enforcement agencies across the country are beginning to change the way they interact with people with mental health issues.
Crisis intervention training (CIT) is a model implemented in many police departments. CIT was created after a man suffering a mental health crisis was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1988.
There are 2,700 CIT programs nationwide, according to NAMI. During CIT, officers learn de-escalation techniques through role-playing, listen to family members and individuals experiencing mental health issues, and learn about local mental health facilities and resources.
“De-escalation really teaches you to listen to the person, not the problem,” said Ernest Stevens of the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
Stevens started a CIT program within the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) in 2008. A year later, SAPD successfully helped resident Jeff Ownes, who was going through an episode of paranoia.
“(Owens) set fire to (his mother’s) garage, stabbed the family dog with a pair of scissors, threw all the food in the refrigerator because he thought it was poisoned and started taking the engine out of (his mother’s) car,” Stevens recalled.
Ownes’ mother, Jeannine Ownes, called the police. The non-uniformed CIT officers were able to deescalate the situation and took Jeff Ownes to the hospital to receive the help he needed, Stevens said.
“His life was not threatened and he calmed down,” Jeannine Ownes said. “If (Jeff) was in berserk mode, I would still be afraid the police would come and shoot him.”
In Illinois, Lake County’s Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COaST) program pairs a police officer with a social worker, clinician or specialist to respond to mental health-related calls.
Lake County officers refer a person experiencing a mental health crisis to COaST, but if no specialist is available, a CIT-certified officer will handle the emergency.
After five years, the program reached its 5,000th benchmark in October 2023, a milestone for the city, according to a Lake County press release. However, one of the obstacles to the COaST program is a lack of counselors or therapists, said James Yanecek, director of training for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In Denver, Colorado, the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program sends a behavioral health professional and a paramedic to help in place of the police.
In three years, STAR program workers responded to 7,464 calls, with 49% of people being referred to a mental health service. Police did not issue any tickets or make any arrests.
CIT programs are not mandatory in police departments and require a 40-hour commitment, making it difficult for some officers to participate, according to Emily Ribnik of the Criminal Justice Coordination Center of Excellence at Northeast Ohio Medical University .
Additionally, some rural police departments with smaller units cannot send officers to CIT programs, Ribnik said.
Mental health advocates say CITs are a start to creating safer spaces for people with mental illnesses. However, effective police responses to mental health crises go beyond CIT, said Hannah Wesolowski, NAMI advocacy manager.
“The long-term goal is to create alternative responses to policing,” Wesolowski said.
In New York, council members introduced legislation to staff every police station with a licensed social worker by May 2024. The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) responded that mental health must be addressed before a crisis does not follow.
“We’re always happy to receive more resources to help New Yorkers. However, police officers deal with people every day who need this type of help because they can’t get it anywhere else. They should receive services before there is a crisis, and certainly before they have to be taken to a police station because they have harmed someone,” said PBA President Patrick Hendry, at ABC News.
Yaneck, of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, argued that police can play an important role in responding to a mental health crisis.
“It allows us to have that contact with people and let them understand that we’re not here to arrest them or give them a ticket,” Yaneck said. “It reduces their anxiety.”
Photos of Angelo Quinto are displayed during a press conference in Oakland, California on September 7, 2022.
Janie Har/AP
After Angelo’s death, the Quinto family pushed for Antioch police to use body cameras and other reforms. The Antioch Police Department also launched Antioch CARE, a program to respond to mental health emergencies.
“This is an example of how a tragic event turns into a very positive effort on the part of the (Quinto) family,” Burris said.
The Quinto family ultimately settled with the city for $7.5 million following Angelo’s death.
ABC News
