[Eternally Solo]

Obituary

Angelo was a 30-year-old Filipino-American Navy veteran who died on December 26, 2020, from complications after being knelt on the neck by a police officer three days earlier. Prior to the encounter, police were responding to a call that Quinto was suffering from a mental health crisis.

THE INCIDENT

On December 23, 2020, Bella Collins called 911 reporting suspicious behavior and possible paranoia and anxiety in Angelo, who had grabbed her and their mother, Maria Cassandra Quinto-Collins, hugging them tightly; his sister feared he might hurt their mother.

Shortly after 11 p.m., police arrived and grabbed Quinto from Cassandra, who reports that as they put him down on his stomach and handcuffed him, he repeatedly said, "Please don't kill me." When Quinto lost consciousness, Cassandra began recording a video of the incident on her cell phone in which blood is seen on Quinto's face and on the floor.

The police remove his handcuffs and roll him into a mobile stretcher, then attempt to resuscitate him through CPR. Officers called an ambulance, and Quinto was taken to the Sutter Delta Medical Center, where he died three days later.

THE AFTERMATH








PRE-FUNERAL VIEWING

Quinto's family filed a wrongful death claim with civil rights attorney John Burris on February 18, 2021. It is stated in the claim that Angelo had been "suffering from anxiety, depression, and paranoia for the previous few months" and that before police arrived, "he had already started to calm down". The police denied using excessive force. A county pathologist stated at the coroner's inquest that Modafinil, which is used to treat narcolepsy, was found in Quinto's system, and said the cause of death was excited delirium syndrome. An autopsy ordered by Quinto's family determined he died from asphyxiation.

A rally was held at the Antioch Police Department on June 23, 2021.

On September 30, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed eight police reform bills into law. One of them, Assembly Bill 490 or Angelo's Law, bans restraint tactics and face-down holds that could cause asphyxiation.