(CNN) — A Northern California city has agreed to pay $7.5 million to the family of a 30-year-old man who died days after being restrained by police in 2020, the parties announced Wednesday, settling a wrongful death lawsuit that family presented.
Angelo Quinto’s family filed the lawsuit against the city of Antioch in February 2021, alleging that he was suffering a mental health episode and died days after police officers knelt on his neck for nearly five minutes to subdue him.
A year later, the Contra Costa County prosecutor’s office said an internal examination determined that Quinto’s neck area was undamaged; that he saw “no evidence of criminal offense by Antioch police officers” in Quinto’s death; and that the agents had “engaged with Quinto in a manner that was lawful and objectively reasonable under the circumstances.”
“While there are conflicting medical opinions about the cause of death, the accounts of what occurred in the bedroom are consistent among all witnesses in that no police officer applied pressure to Quinto’s neck,” the office said. of the district attorney in 2022.
Police restrained Quinto at the family’s Antioch home on Dec. 23, 2020, after his sister called authorities because he had been having a mental health episode and she feared he would hurt their mother, the police’s attorneys previously said. family. Quinto lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead three days later, the family’s attorneys said in the lawsuit.
The cause of Quinto’s death “was a syndrome of excited delirium due to drug intoxication, psychiatric disorders, physical exertion and cardiac arrest,” as determined by an autopsy performed five days after Quinto was restrained by agents, according to the police. prosecutor’s office in 2022.
On Wednesday, an attorney for Quinto’s family, Ben Nisenbaum, said Quinto’s family was the “driving force” behind legislation eventually signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom banning excited delirium and other similar terms that are listed as causes. of death in California. He said the coroner’s investigation included excited delirium — which is “characterized by agitation, aggression, acute distress, and sudden death,” according to the National Library of Medicine — as the cause of Quinto’s death.
John L. Burris, another attorney for the family, said the settlement shows that something positive can come from a tragedy. “This is a case where the family, from day one, took the tragedy and the loss and the circumstances surrounding Angelo’s death and tried to turn it into a positive good, and they succeeded,” Burris said.
Angelo Quinto. (Credit: Law Offices of John Burris)
“The real advantage of this case is the collective efforts on their part and the willingness of city officials, including the mayor’s office, to bring about positive change,” Burris said.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe said that although two people died in police custody during the first 30 days of his administration, “he was left with the impression that this was no big deal.”
“$7.5 million later — and it’s never enough to compensate for the loss of a loved one — we recognized that it was a bigger issue than we understood,” the mayor said at Wednesday’s news conference, adding that The city council had previously fought against body cameras for police officers.
“Years of, frankly, failed leadership have brought us to this moment, but I’m happy to say that we’ve done a tremendous job in terms of changing the culture, not only in the police department, but in the city, and taking ourselves seriously these concerns,” the mayor said. “We’ve done a lot in terms of establishing reforms that I believe build a safer community for each and every segment of our city and to ensure that people have justice when we get it wrong.”
During the press conference, Quinto’s stepfather, Robert Collins, thanked the mayor and city council for listening to his family’s requests for change.
“We have found a city that has listened to many of our pleas and has begun to make the necessary changes that we need,” Collins said. “It’s a process of change. We’re not done here. It’s a process that will take many years.”
Thanks to the family’s claim, police body cameras “are now a reality in Antioch,” and a non-police mental health response team “has prevented other people’s deaths,” Collins said.
Quinto’s sister, Isabella Collins, described her brother as “multi-talented.” He was an artist, loved to cook and always tried to better himself, she said.
“It’s kind of justice that we’ve been able to work toward positive reforms and changes, legislative and advocacy changes,” Isabella Collins said. “I think if my brother couldn’t live, maybe he would choose this, this impact on other people’s lives and legacies, the ability to pave the way to justice for others.”
