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ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) — Lawyers for the family of Angelo Quinto announced Wednesday they reached a $7.5 million settlement with the City of Antioch over his death. The City Council unanimously approved the settlement during a closed session meeting this week.
“This is kind of a celebration to me,” said John Burris, who is representing the family. “This is a case where the family, from day one, took the tragedy and loss in the circumstances surrounding Angelo’s death and tried to turn it into a positive good.”
Quinto died days before Christmas in 2020, after being in police custody. He was experiencing a mental health emergency. After his death, his family pushed for numerous policing reforms and law changes. The biggest change came when Antioch implemented a community response team that is trained to respond and de-escalate mental health issues around the city. In the first year, the team responded to 500 calls a month and no one has died in their custody.
“A properly trained mental health response team is the proper solution,” said Robert Collins, Quinto’s stepfather. “I believe he would still be alive today had their been a CRT and not the police.”
The mayor of Antioch said on the team’s one year anniversary he wants to expand that program. The Quinto family fully supports that.
“I think of Angelo everyday,” Collins said. “Police don’t want to or shouldn’t respond to mental health calls. They need to respond to the shootings, the robbery that is happening. Them showing up to a mental health emergency can sometimes exasperate the situation.”
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