California State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday his office would investigate the police shooting death of Angelo Quinto in Antioch, KRON-TV reported.
The decision comes after the family of the 30-year-old veteran rallied in front of Bonta’s office in Oakland demanding an investigation.
“You know justice is never easy to achieve. It is a hard road to take,” Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins tearfully said, reported KTVU. “But I know the truth will prevail.”
On Friday, Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton ruled her office would not file charges against officers involved in the young man’s death.
Antioch Police responded to a call on Dec 23, 2020 of a dispute between Quinto and his mother. Officers restrained Quinto and according to them, placed a knee on his shoulder, according to NBC Bay Area. Earlier reports had indicated the knee had been placed on Quinto’s knee.
Paramedics arrived to find him purple in color and unresponsive. Emergency crews took him to the hospital where he later died.
Quinto family attorney John Burris called Becton’s decision “a clear miscarriage of justice.”
“The District Attorney’s report falsely claims that Mr. Quinto had fentanyl in his system that contributed to his death,” Burris’ legal partner Ben Nisenbaum said. “The report’s claim that fentanyl intoxication compounded ‘the original finding of drug intoxication and further exacerbated the complications from Quinto’s physical exertion before and after law enforcement arrived at the residence’ is a blatant lie.”
The four officers involved in Quinto’s death have been identified by the DA as Daniel Hopwood, Nicholas Shipilov, James Perkinson and Arturo Becerra.
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