Antioch officials welcomed the city’s first mental health crisis response team and its mobile crisis response van Monday morning.
The city said during a press conference that the team will be the first from a Contra Costa County city to respond to mental health emergencies, which in the past have always been handled by police.
The team will respond to non-violent, non-life-threatening 911 calls and will be named after Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Antioch resident who died after being restrained by Antioch police on Dec. 23, 2020.
Quinto was suffering from a mental health crisis and having a dispute with his mother when police arrived to the family’s home. Officers restrained him, kneeled on his shoulder, securing his legs and handcuffing him, before calling for an ambulance.
When paramedics arrived, Quinto’s face was reportedly purple and he was unresponsive. There was blood on his face and the floor. They began lifesaving measures, but he died later that day at the hospital.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office last September declined to file charges against the police, citing autopsy results. That office, and the FBI, are now investigating the Antioch Police Department for a number of alleged civil rights violations.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said the incident has changed the city by prompting much of the police reform efforts of the past few years. He also apologized to the Quinto family.
“There are no words that can ever heal the pain that you’re experiencing but I hope this gesture here helps you understand that your city is listening to you, your city sees you, we value you, and we respect you,” Thorpe said.
City council member Monica Wilson said while other municipalities around the country have chosen to cut mental health services, “Antioch has decided to buck that trend and make it a priority.”
“This investment in a mental health response team will make it so that you never have to lose a member of our community due to mental health needs,” Wilson said. “This will ensure that a mental health breakdown is treated as that: a mental health breakdown, not a crime that requires the full force of the police department.”
The city will track calls and connect those needing the crisis team to local services that can help. The annual cost of the crisis response team is estimated between $1.8 million and $2.2 million. The city has organized the program with Bay Area social services provider the Felton Institute
The county is working on implementing its own similar mental health crisis response team, as are various cities around the Bay Area, including one connected to the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District.
23 comments
Mental health response team will respond to non-violent, non-life-threatening 911 calls.
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An with reduced number of APD on patrol, how many minutes away will armed backup be when a mental health response team call turns violent or patient produces a weapon ? ? ?.
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Interesting thorpe would cite Quinto death given DA’s report,
https://tinyurl.com/565cwjb4
I think this story is ripe for a “Name That Van” contest.
What will we call it?
One of the Woke movements’ answer to the Police is mental health crisis teams replacing legit
police officers. Sounds to me like a formula for even more rampant crime in the city. When some
violent wacko kills or severely injures someone on the team, they will be made martyrs. For political
gain.
Best to stay away from Antioch, unless you have to go there. I feel sorry for those who live there and
have to put up with progressive leftest ideals that do not protect citizens.
Do the crime, get a facility named after you.
The sad state is California and the Bay Area woke environment
As a paramedic who responded with police too many alleged, non-violent, mental health patients, this is not gonna go well. Mental health patients are exactly what they are describe to be, mentally ill. They can turn on you in a minute. I know this, because one of them turned on me, and I wound up being injured by that person and had to be treated at the hospital. Just wait till these so-called social workers encounter a violent mentally ill person.
Do the crime and have something named after you. That seems to be the new motto of the woke generation. The perp can never be at fault. If it was not so sad it would be funny. Thanks to California and Bay Area liberal politics that everyone gets a trophy.
My suggestion is they take the police with them on calls.
“Dear Family of the Dearly Departed, we seek to honor the tragedy of your loved one by naming a team after him. This team will perform a function that has not been shown to be effective at its purpose nor has it been shown to reduce outcomes like the one your family member suffered. Instead the service will function as a totem to the government incompetence that caused his death. By that we do not mean the mechanism that caused his death. Rather the local and state governments total inability to self-evaluate, establish effective policies, follow through with their execution and track progress in an honestly transparent and accurate way. So yes, this team is named for your son. But in more of a vis-a-vis way that we are saying. Which is again the very nature of the problem.”
Who will determine that the situation is a non violent or possibly a potential violent life threatening situation? A person answering a telephone. It’s a perfect example of policy be created by government officials who have absolutely zero idea about what really happens and what’s going in the real world.
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The Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office ruled that Angel Quinto died from excited delirium when he was restrained by officers.
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Why isn’t that fact mentioned in the article? I mean, the Coroner’s Office has trained and licensed medical staff and that official determination is being ignored? Maybe censored?
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So this new team is costing $1.8 million and $2.2 million annually. Waiting for the city of Antioch to be sued for 10 times that much after the first mental health crisis team member is killed by a “non-violent” suspect.
Woke agenda regardless of cost to antioch.
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How else can political ladder to higher office be climbed.
Censored. No doubt.
There are more mentally ill people than not. Good luck with ever doing anything about it more than has been done. It just can’t be done.
I know this is Antioch’s first “mental health crisis response team” but the headline says the team will be named after the late Mr. Quinto (for some reason) … ok, so what is the name of the team?
Isn’t that what the story is about?
No, the story is about Lamar Thorpe having yet another publicity stunt. I’m surprised there wasn’t a quote about systemic racism.
When the real lesson from this sad incident is that obesity and drugs are a deadly combination on their own. And even a little physical exertion can push the person over the edge.
“The forensic pathologist determined the cause of death to be Excited Delirium Syndrome due to acute drug intoxication with behavior disturbances, also due to arrest related death with physical exertion. With a comment that prone position with weight on the back may have played an additional role”
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Concur.
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This exemplifies the current state of “journalism”.
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What a joke??!!! The first time a “crisis team mem,ber” is seriously injured or killed who is to bear the cost of treatment and re-hab or burial???
This equity crap is idiotic AND stupid! Ever notice that the bulk of the demands for these “teams”originate with Blacks and their activist supporters?? So, every time a Black (or Brown person for inclusivity) explodes a “crisis team” is sent to “mitigate” the situation!!! What a fatce!!
REMEMBER – police are minutes away when seconds count!!
What’s the diversity makeup of this team selected for this potentially dangerous experiment?
Since this mental health crisis response team has no official name, could simply refer to them as the “Shrink Squad”?
Never mind…. I found the answer from another source.
The team is called “Angelo Quinto Community Response Team”
https://tinyurl.com/28xfuke4
Sadly, “They were expendable” is likely the most prophetic name, as this is a doomed experiment.
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