Haven't the police learned anything yet?

[Stevicus]

Family says Angelo Quinto died after Bay Area police knelt on his neck - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

The family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit over the death of Navy veteran Angelo Quinto, who was experiencing a mental health crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Navy veteran who was going through an episode of paranoia died after a Northern California police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, his family said Tuesday.

The family of Angelo Quinto called police on Dec. 23 because the 30-year-old was suffering a mental health crisis and needed help. His family says a responding officer knelt on Quinto’s neck for nearly five minutes while another officer restrained his legs. Quinto lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later.

“He said ‘Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me,’ as they were putting him on the ground. They handcuffed him, and one officer put his knee on the back of his neck the whole time I was in the room,” said Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins.

Quinto-Collins said she had been hugging her son and he was calm when officers arrived at their home in Antioch, 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of San Francisco.

Thing is, by the time officers arrived, he was already calm and hugging his mother, so there was no longer any need for the police to restrain him. Yet they did anyway.

“I trusted the police because I thought they knew what they were doing,” she said, “but he was actually passive and visibly not dangerous or a threat so it was absolutely unnecessary what they did to him.”

The family's attorney calls it the "George Floyd technique."

The family filed a legal claim against the Antioch Police Department last week, which gives the department 45 days to respond. After that time has elapsed, the family will file a federal lawsuit, said John Burris, the Quintos’ attorney.

“I refer to it as the George Floyd technique, that’s what snuffed the life out of him, and that cannot be a lawful technique,” Burris said. “We see not only violations of his civil rights but also violations against the rights of his mother and sister’s, who saw what happened to him.”

The police also did not try to deescalate or talk to Quinto first, nor did they activate their bodycams or turn on the camera in their patrol car.

Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed.

Burris said there were other issues with the officers’ response, including how they didn’t try to deescalate and first talk to Quinto, and how they failed to turn on their body cameras and the camera in their patrol car.

A cause of death has not been released by authorities, and an independent autopsy is pending, Burris said.

Another misdeed by the police was in their failure to immediately inform the public. They waited a month before even saying anything.

The department didn’t inform the public of Quinto’s death until Jan. 25 when it answered inquiries made by the East Bay Times.

After the legal claim was filed Thursday, Antioch Police Lt. Tarra Mendes told the newspaper that “the investigation is still ongoing. We want it to be completed. As soon as it is completed, we will be able to provide the public with more information.”

Quinto, who was born in the Philippines, was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2019 because of a food allergy, said his sister, Bella Collins.

He suffered from depression most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent assault in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital not remembering what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. After that, he began having episodes of paranoia and anxiety, she said.

It's almost as if last summer's protests and clamor for police reform never happened. The police continue to operate as they always have; nothing has changed at all. Of course, this is also a failure of the protesters for allowing themselves to become distracted and confused, as they took their focus off the police and government and instead railed against everything else in society...except the police.

Another irony here is that the governor of California is a Democrat, the city government of Antioch is Democratic. (City Council – City of Antioch, California) They, more than anyone else, should know better than this. And yet, they don't. What's going on here?

 

[Valjean]

Hire Right Wing Authoritarians and Social dominants and you're going to get aggressive, punitive "law enforcement."
Just stop hiring them, they can't help themselves.

 

[Twilight Hue]

At least more people are waking up to the fact that the government will never change its direction and agenda.

The quest will always be for more power and control over people. That's what the administration wants.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Hire Right Wing Authoritarians and Social dominants and you're going to get aggressive, punitive "law enforcement."
Just stop hiring them, they can't help themselves.

Why? The People's Republic of California are clearly doing a stellar job so far.

 

[Stevicus]

Hire Right Wing Authoritarians and Social dominants and you're going to get aggressive, punitive "law enforcement."
Just stop hiring them, they can't help themselves.

Yes. Either that, or at least hold them accountable for what they do. A lot of the problem is related to the apparent inability or unwillingness to actually hold these rogue cops accountable for what they do. Plus, the lack of transparency. The problem is due to a failure of leadership, and that falls squarely upon the local and state governments.

 

[sun rise]

Why? The People's Republic of California are clearly doing a stellar job so far.

Compared to the Trump state government which wants to make it legal to drive cars into protesters, yes we are. Compared to the Trump state government which wants to punish any city which dares to cut the police budget, yes we are.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Compared to the Trump state government which wants to make it legal to drive cars into protesters, yes we are. Compared to the Trump state government which wants to punish any city which dares to cut the police budget, yes we are.

Glad to hear. Good to know this particular one is nothing.

 

[Revoltingest]

Compared to the Trump state government which wants to make it legal to drive cars into protesters, yes we are. Compared to the Trump state government which wants to punish any city which dares to cut the police budget, yes we are.

That guy sure can land on his feet...from disgraced
Prez to running an entire state. Even Trump's most
fervent foes must give him credit for that comeback.

 

[Revoltingest]

Why? The People's Republic of California are clearly doing a stellar job so far.

Even in in a leftish town in a leftish state,
the right is blamed for every problem.

 

[sun rise]

That guy sure can land on his feet...from disgraced
Prez to running an entire state. Even Trump's most
fervent foes must give him credit for that comeback.

I'll give you the nit that I did not write "Trump party". To me, there's the Trump party and a few members of what used to be the Republican party which was anti-big government, anti-authoritarian, pro-law and so forth. The cancel culture of Trump supporters is taking care of the few of those folk that remain.