California
Family of Navy veteran who died after officer knelt on his neck settles lawsuit for $7.5M
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Family members of a Navy veteran who died in 2020 after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for nearly five minutes while he was in a mental health crisis have settled a federal lawsuit against the Northern California city of Antioch for $7.5 million, their attorneys said Wednesday.
After Angelo Quinto’s death, his family also pushed for reforms that led to city and state changes in how law enforcement agencies respond to people who are in a mental health crisis.
John Burris, one of the attorneys, said in a statement that while no amount of money can compensate for Quinto’s death, “his family is to be commended for their unwavering commitment to improving the relationship between the community and Antioch police.”
The lawsuit alleged that Antioch police officers used excessive force when restraining Quinto. It named as defendants the city of Antioch, then-police Chief Tammany Brooks and four officers who responded to a 911 call from Quinto’s family.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe said Quinto’s death was a catalyst for change in the city of 115,000 people 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
“How we look at public safety is different than what did literally three or four years ago when we all thought public safety meant cops, cops, cops,” he said. “Not everything requires a police response.”
The family called police on Dec. 23, 2020, because the 30-year-old was in mental distress and needed help. One officer pressed a knee on his neck for nearly five minutes while another restrained his legs, according to the complaint.
After about five minutes of the prone restraint, Quinto appeared to become totally unresponsive, the lawsuit said. He lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later.
Quinto’s death came months after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and amid a nationwide outcry over police brutality.
In the aftermath, Antioch police officers were equipped with body cameras and city officials created a mental health crisis team and a police review commission.
Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, thanked the city of Antioch for the policy changes and said her family’s fight is not yet over.
“I thank you for what has been a courageous beginning to bring about transparency and accountability to the Antioch Police Department so that it may serve our diverse community with respect and mutual trust,” Quinto-Collins said.
Quinto, who was born in the Philippines, served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 2019 due to a food allergy, according to his family.
He had depression most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent assault in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital not remembering what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. After that he began having episodes of paranoia and anxiety, his family said.
North Carolina
Angie Harmon is suing Instacart and a former shopper who shot and killed her dog
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Actor Angie Harmon has filed a lawsuit against Instacart and one of its former shoppers who fatally shot her dog in March while delivering groceries at her North Carolina home.
The lawsuit filed late last week in Mecklenburg County seeks to hold the shopper and Instacart liable for accusations of trespassing, gross negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy, among other allegations. It accuses Instacart of engaging in negligent hiring, supervision, retention and misrepresentation. The suit seeks monetary damages, to be determined at trial.
Instacart says the shopper has since been permanently banned from its platform.
Harmon is known for her work on TV shows including “Law & Order” and “Rizolli & Isles.” She told ABC News that it was “so unfathomable to think that there is somebody in your front driveway that just fired a gun.”
“I think Instacart is beyond responsible for all of this. This didn’t have to happen,” Harmon said in the interview that aired Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” ABC News described the dog as a “beagle mix.”
According to the complaint, Harmon ordered an Instacart groceries delivery from a Charlotte store on March 30. The Instacart app showed a shopper named Merle with a profile photo of an older woman, with whom Harmon believed she was exchanging text messages about her order, the lawsuit says.
Later that day, Harmon was upstairs filling her squirrel feeders when a “tall and intimidating younger man,” not an older woman, showed up to deliver the groceries, the lawsuit says.
Harmon said she heard a gunshot sound and rushed outside. She found her dog, Oliver, had been shot, and saw the delivery person putting a gun into the front of his pants, according to the suit. Her teenage daughters, who had already been outside, were “in distress,” it says. The dog died at the veterinarian’s office.
The shopper told police that he shot the dog after it attacked him, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told news outlets, adding that they did not pursue criminal charges.
In an Instagram post last month about the encounter, Harmon wrote that the shopper “did not have a scratch or bite on him nor were his pants torn.”
Instacart says it immediately suspended the shopper after receiving the report about the shooting, then later removed him permanently. The company says it runs comprehensive background checks on shoppers, prohibits them from carrying weapons and has anti-fraud measures that include periodically requiring them to take a photo of themselves to ensure the person shopping matches their photo on file.
“Our hearts continue to be with Ms. Harmon and her family following this disturbing incident,” Instacart said in a statement. “While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we have no tolerance for violence of any kind, and the shopper account has been permanently deactivated from our platform.”
Minnesota
Murder trial set for September for trooper who shot motorist during freeway stop
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota state trooper who’s charged with murder for fatally shooting a motorist as he tried to pull away from a traffic stop is set to go on trial in September.
Trooper Ryan Londregan, 27, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the death of Ricky Cobb II. It was the first hearing in the case for a new prosecution team from a Washington, D.C., law firm that Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty hired to take over after the original leader from her office stepped away from the politically charged case.
“I plead innocent your honor,” Londregan told Judge Tamara Garcia.
Garcia scheduled the trial to start Sept. 9, with one week blocked out for jury selection and two weeks for testimony. The next hearing is set for Aug. 12 to iron out rules for the trial. The charges include second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault.
Defense attorney Chris Madel moved to disqualify the special prosecutors from Steptoe LLC, arguing that firm’s $850 per-hour, per-attorney fee, and $250 an hour for paralegals, would factor into prosecutorial decisions. But he then dropped that motion and demanded a speedy trial.
The outside lawyers include four former federal prosecutors and one former Manhattan assistant district attorney. Moriarty has said she hired them because her office lacks enough experienced attorneys, given its current caseload, to handle the high-profile and complicated case.
The contract includes an initial $1 million billing cap for their services.
Troopers pulled the 33-year-old Cobb over on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis last July 31 because the lights were out on his car. They then found that the Spring Lake Park man was wanted for violating a protection order in neighboring Ramsey County. Londregan, who is white, shot Cobb twice as the Black man tried to drive away after troopers ordered him to get out of his car.
Madel maintains that Londregan’s use of force was justified to protect himself and another trooper who was partially inside the car.
Law enforcement and Republican leaders have been calling on Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to take the case away from Moriarty, a former public defender who was elected on a platform of police accountability following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer in 2020, and turn it over to Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison. Walz has expressed concern about the direction of the case but has not acted.
Cobb’s family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last month, alleging that the stop and the shooting were unjustified.
Colorado
Teen pleads guilty in death of driver who was hit in the head by a rock
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — A second teen pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the death of a 20-year-old driver who was hit in the head by a rock that crashed through her windshield in suburban Denver last year.
Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Nicholas Karol-Chik, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and commiting a crime of violence, saying that he passed a rock to another teen, Joseph Koenig, who then threw it at Alexis Bartell’s car, killing her, on April 19, 2023. Karol-Chik also pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder for throwing rocks at a total of nine people that night with Koenig and Zachary Kwak, who pleaded guilty last week and earlier in the year.
Prosecutors have previously said they did not know which of the three 19-year-olds threw the rock that killed Bartell, noting that the only DNA found on it belonged to her. So they may need to rely on Karol-Chik’s testimony when Koenig, the only defendant still being prosecuted for first-degree murder in Bartell’s death, goes on trial in July.
Koenig has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Martin Stuart, declined to comment.
Both Karol-Chik and Kwak agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of their plea agreements. Kwak pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Bartell’s death, second-degree assault for the three other drivers who were injured by rocks the night she was killed and attempted second-degree assault for three other cars that were hit by rocks but that didn’t result in injuries.
According to facts that Karol-Chik admitted to, all three threw rocks at oncoming cars that night, hitting a total of seven vehicles. Karol-Chik also said that he was sitting in the front passenger’s seat when he handed Koenig a large landscaping rock that Koenig, who was driving, then threw at Bartell’s car.
Under his plea agreement, Karol-Chik could be sent to prison for between 35 and 72 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 10.
Karol-Chik, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and his wrists handcuffed in front of him, entered his plea in court as his parents watched a few rows behind him.
He politely answered Judge Christopher Zenisek’s questions about whether he understood what he was doing as his mother, sitting on the defense side of the courtroom, cried. Bartell’s family and friends filled the other side of the courtroom, some of them also wiping away tears during the hearing.
Family of Navy veteran who died after officer knelt on his neck settles lawsuit for $7.5M
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Family members of a Navy veteran who died in 2020 after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for nearly five minutes while he was in a mental health crisis have settled a federal lawsuit against the Northern California city of Antioch for $7.5 million, their attorneys said Wednesday.
After Angelo Quinto’s death, his family also pushed for reforms that led to city and state changes in how law enforcement agencies respond to people who are in a mental health crisis.
John Burris, one of the attorneys, said in a statement that while no amount of money can compensate for Quinto’s death, “his family is to be commended for their unwavering commitment to improving the relationship between the community and Antioch police.”
The lawsuit alleged that Antioch police officers used excessive force when restraining Quinto. It named as defendants the city of Antioch, then-police Chief Tammany Brooks and four officers who responded to a 911 call from Quinto’s family.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe said Quinto’s death was a catalyst for change in the city of 115,000 people 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
“How we look at public safety is different than what did literally three or four years ago when we all thought public safety meant cops, cops, cops,” he said. “Not everything requires a police response.”
The family called police on Dec. 23, 2020, because the 30-year-old was in mental distress and needed help. One officer pressed a knee on his neck for nearly five minutes while another restrained his legs, according to the complaint.
After about five minutes of the prone restraint, Quinto appeared to become totally unresponsive, the lawsuit said. He lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died three days later.
Quinto’s death came months after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and amid a nationwide outcry over police brutality.
In the aftermath, Antioch police officers were equipped with body cameras and city officials created a mental health crisis team and a police review commission.
Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, thanked the city of Antioch for the policy changes and said her family’s fight is not yet over.
“I thank you for what has been a courageous beginning to bring about transparency and accountability to the Antioch Police Department so that it may serve our diverse community with respect and mutual trust,” Quinto-Collins said.
Quinto, who was born in the Philippines, served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 2019 due to a food allergy, according to his family.
He had depression most of his life, but his behavior changed after an apparent assault in early 2020, when he woke up in a hospital not remembering what had happened and with stitches and serious injuries. After that he began having episodes of paranoia and anxiety, his family said.
North Carolina
Angie Harmon is suing Instacart and a former shopper who shot and killed her dog
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Actor Angie Harmon has filed a lawsuit against Instacart and one of its former shoppers who fatally shot her dog in March while delivering groceries at her North Carolina home.
The lawsuit filed late last week in Mecklenburg County seeks to hold the shopper and Instacart liable for accusations of trespassing, gross negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy, among other allegations. It accuses Instacart of engaging in negligent hiring, supervision, retention and misrepresentation. The suit seeks monetary damages, to be determined at trial.
Instacart says the shopper has since been permanently banned from its platform.
Harmon is known for her work on TV shows including “Law & Order” and “Rizolli & Isles.” She told ABC News that it was “so unfathomable to think that there is somebody in your front driveway that just fired a gun.”
“I think Instacart is beyond responsible for all of this. This didn’t have to happen,” Harmon said in the interview that aired Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” ABC News described the dog as a “beagle mix.”
According to the complaint, Harmon ordered an Instacart groceries delivery from a Charlotte store on March 30. The Instacart app showed a shopper named Merle with a profile photo of an older woman, with whom Harmon believed she was exchanging text messages about her order, the lawsuit says.
Later that day, Harmon was upstairs filling her squirrel feeders when a “tall and intimidating younger man,” not an older woman, showed up to deliver the groceries, the lawsuit says.
Harmon said she heard a gunshot sound and rushed outside. She found her dog, Oliver, had been shot, and saw the delivery person putting a gun into the front of his pants, according to the suit. Her teenage daughters, who had already been outside, were “in distress,” it says. The dog died at the veterinarian’s office.
The shopper told police that he shot the dog after it attacked him, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told news outlets, adding that they did not pursue criminal charges.
In an Instagram post last month about the encounter, Harmon wrote that the shopper “did not have a scratch or bite on him nor were his pants torn.”
Instacart says it immediately suspended the shopper after receiving the report about the shooting, then later removed him permanently. The company says it runs comprehensive background checks on shoppers, prohibits them from carrying weapons and has anti-fraud measures that include periodically requiring them to take a photo of themselves to ensure the person shopping matches their photo on file.
“Our hearts continue to be with Ms. Harmon and her family following this disturbing incident,” Instacart said in a statement. “While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we have no tolerance for violence of any kind, and the shopper account has been permanently deactivated from our platform.”
Minnesota
Murder trial set for September for trooper who shot motorist during freeway stop
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota state trooper who’s charged with murder for fatally shooting a motorist as he tried to pull away from a traffic stop is set to go on trial in September.
Trooper Ryan Londregan, 27, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the death of Ricky Cobb II. It was the first hearing in the case for a new prosecution team from a Washington, D.C., law firm that Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty hired to take over after the original leader from her office stepped away from the politically charged case.
“I plead innocent your honor,” Londregan told Judge Tamara Garcia.
Garcia scheduled the trial to start Sept. 9, with one week blocked out for jury selection and two weeks for testimony. The next hearing is set for Aug. 12 to iron out rules for the trial. The charges include second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault.
Defense attorney Chris Madel moved to disqualify the special prosecutors from Steptoe LLC, arguing that firm’s $850 per-hour, per-attorney fee, and $250 an hour for paralegals, would factor into prosecutorial decisions. But he then dropped that motion and demanded a speedy trial.
The outside lawyers include four former federal prosecutors and one former Manhattan assistant district attorney. Moriarty has said she hired them because her office lacks enough experienced attorneys, given its current caseload, to handle the high-profile and complicated case.
The contract includes an initial $1 million billing cap for their services.
Troopers pulled the 33-year-old Cobb over on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis last July 31 because the lights were out on his car. They then found that the Spring Lake Park man was wanted for violating a protection order in neighboring Ramsey County. Londregan, who is white, shot Cobb twice as the Black man tried to drive away after troopers ordered him to get out of his car.
Madel maintains that Londregan’s use of force was justified to protect himself and another trooper who was partially inside the car.
Law enforcement and Republican leaders have been calling on Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to take the case away from Moriarty, a former public defender who was elected on a platform of police accountability following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer in 2020, and turn it over to Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison. Walz has expressed concern about the direction of the case but has not acted.
Cobb’s family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last month, alleging that the stop and the shooting were unjustified.
Colorado
Teen pleads guilty in death of driver who was hit in the head by a rock
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — A second teen pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the death of a 20-year-old driver who was hit in the head by a rock that crashed through her windshield in suburban Denver last year.
Under a plea deal with prosecutors, Nicholas Karol-Chik, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and commiting a crime of violence, saying that he passed a rock to another teen, Joseph Koenig, who then threw it at Alexis Bartell’s car, killing her, on April 19, 2023. Karol-Chik also pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder for throwing rocks at a total of nine people that night with Koenig and Zachary Kwak, who pleaded guilty last week and earlier in the year.
Prosecutors have previously said they did not know which of the three 19-year-olds threw the rock that killed Bartell, noting that the only DNA found on it belonged to her. So they may need to rely on Karol-Chik’s testimony when Koenig, the only defendant still being prosecuted for first-degree murder in Bartell’s death, goes on trial in July.
Koenig has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Martin Stuart, declined to comment.
Both Karol-Chik and Kwak agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of their plea agreements. Kwak pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Bartell’s death, second-degree assault for the three other drivers who were injured by rocks the night she was killed and attempted second-degree assault for three other cars that were hit by rocks but that didn’t result in injuries.
According to facts that Karol-Chik admitted to, all three threw rocks at oncoming cars that night, hitting a total of seven vehicles. Karol-Chik also said that he was sitting in the front passenger’s seat when he handed Koenig a large landscaping rock that Koenig, who was driving, then threw at Bartell’s car.
Under his plea agreement, Karol-Chik could be sent to prison for between 35 and 72 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 10.
Karol-Chik, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and his wrists handcuffed in front of him, entered his plea in court as his parents watched a few rows behind him.
He politely answered Judge Christopher Zenisek’s questions about whether he understood what he was doing as his mother, sitting on the defense side of the courtroom, cried. Bartell’s family and friends filled the other side of the courtroom, some of them also wiping away tears during the hearing.
