Powered by
Sponsored by

Another American dead after police subdue him with knee on neck

North California man declared dead after police used ‘George Floyd technique’

angelo-quinto-AP This Nov. 30, 2017 photo provided by Isabella Collins shows Navy veteran Angelo Quinto in Moffett Field in Mountainview, California. Quinto, 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, Feb. 23, 2021. The family 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 him. He lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later | Cassandra Quinto-Collins via AP

 Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Filipino immigrant and Navy veteran battling anxiety, depression and paranoia, died in hospital, after a Northern California police officer attempted to subdue him by kneeling on his neck for several minutes, Quinto’s family said.

The incident, which is reminiscent of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers last year, has come to light months after Quinto’s death.

Quinto was undergoing an episode on December 23, following which his sister Isabella Collins called police to their home in Antioch, California. However, by the time police arrived, his mother was holding him to her chest and he had already started to calm down, his family claimed. They said police then grabbed him from her and kneeled on the back and side of his neck, ignoring his pleas not to kill him, for five minutes, before he went unconscious, the family’s lawyer John Burris said at a February 18 press conference.

“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, the LA Times reported.

His family is now filing a wrongful death claim with the Antioch Police Department. Should the claim lapse, the family will file a federal lawsuit according to their lawyer John Burris.

Burris called the technique used on Quinto the “George Floyd technique”.

“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,” he added.

The Antioch police told CNN the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office is investigating the incident.

Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died in May 2020 in Minneapolis after police were summoned following a report that he had attempted to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. Four police officers arrived to arrest him, one of whom knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, during which time Floyd’s heart stopped. He was later found to have used fentanyl and methamphetamine, which may have increased the likelihood of his death under such circumstances.

The incident sparked some of the largest protests against racism and police brutality in recent American history.

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines