NaFFAA decries as ‘appalling’ cops’ knee-to-neck response to Angelo Quinto

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) issues the following statement on the death of 30-year-old Angelo Quinto from Antioch, California.

“We are saddened and outraged to hear of the killing of fellow Filipino American, Angelo Quinto, this past December in Antioch, California. He was brutally handled by the police officers responding to his family’s call for mental health assistance, sustaining injuries that led to his untimely death. Our deepest condolences go out to the Quinto family in light of this horrific incident,” says National Chair and President Brendan Flores.

NaFFAA denounces all acts of police brutality, especially given the history of police violence against Black and Brown communities. The use of violent police tactics against people is unjust and appalling – it leads to the unnecessary loss of lives. The Black Lives Matter movement has been demanding this change for decades, and we continue to stand as allies to the movement, demanding that action is taken to bring justice to victims of police violence from their community and ours. We must do more or those who have been affected by police violence and other acts of violence, both within and outside of the Asian American community.

NaFFAA urgently calls on our public officials to take a stance against this injustice and to listen to the demands of Angelo Quinto’s family and of all BIPOC communities for solutions to reforming a broken police system.

The family of Angelo Quinto asks that we all stand in solidarity and demand the following actions from City of Antioch:

• Require body and dash cameras for every police officer and every police car of the Antioch Police Department.
• Ban the use of knee-to-neck restraint that was used on George Floyd and Angelo Quinto.
• Establish and fund a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Response Teams to respond to crisis situations throughout City of Antioch.

The original demands of the Family of Angelo Quinto can be found here: http://bit.ly/JusticeForAngeloQuinto.

NaFFAA will continue to monitor the progress of the Quinto family’s case. Please send us a message or email info@naffaa.org for any questions or concerns.

Background: “In December, Angelo Quinto, a Navy veteran from Antioch, California, stopped breathing after police violently subdued him during a mental health episode. When the Quinto family called 911 to assist the 30-year-old, who began suffering from ‘paranoia and anxiety’ after being assaulted earlier that year, according to the Washington Post, they were expecting help in deescalating the situation. The officers who arrived at their home on December 23, however, were not there to help. Instead, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, his mother, said the officers became violent and kneeled down on her son’s neck to subdue him. Quinto was pinned down for nearly five minutes, according to his family, and died at a hospital nearby three days later. – Yahoo article

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