Under the direction of Angelo Quinto, a new team of mental health experts aboard a van will respond to 911 calls in the city of Antioch that are not violent or life-threatening but have a mental component.
Antioch officials welcomed the first mental health crisis response team on Monday, named after Angelo Quinto, a resident of Antioch in Contra Costa County who died at the hands of police after being restrained on Dec. 23, 2020.
At a news conference, the city said the team will be the first in a city in the county to respond to mental health emergencies, which were previously handled by the police.
In collaboration with the Felton Institute, the team will respond to non-violent, non-life-threatening 911 calls named after Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Antioch resident who died after being restrained by Antioch police on December 23, 2020.
Quinto suffered a mental health crisis and was in a dispute with his mother when police arrived at the family home, at which point officers grabbed him, knelt on his shoulder, secured his legs and handcuffed him, before calling an ambulance. However, by the time paramedics arrived, he was still in a coma.