Angelo Quinto Was Killed By Police with a Knee to the Neck

Family files wrongful death lawsuit against Antioch Police Department.



Family files wrongful death claim alleging police killed son with knee to neck
In Antioch, California, the family of a 30-year-old man who died after police responded to their home in December filed a wrongful death legal claim against the city, saying officers asphyxiated the man by putting a knee on his neck. Angelo Quinto was experiencing mental health problems when police were called to their home. By the time officers arrived, he had calmed down, but they restrained him. According to his mother, one officer held Quinto's legs while another officer had his knee on the back of his neck, ignoring his pleas of "Please don't kill me." Then he passed out and never regained consciousness. The Antioch Police Department never issued a press release or statement about the case when it happened. The family is hoping their legal claim will help get them some answers.

Still few answers in police shooting of Tommy Le

Seattle's Vietnamese American community experiencing a political awakening around Le's death



Police say he was holding a weapon. It turned out to be a pen. Officers claimed they fired after he charged at them. An autopsy revealed he had been shot in the back. It's been four months since 20-year-old Tommy Le was fatally shot by King County Sheriff's deputies, and there are still few answers about his death.

While public awareness around Le's death seemed relatively quiet, the Vietnamese American community in Seattle has begun to experience a political awakening around Le and the movement against police violence.

"His death has become a catalyst for a campaign by activists to make it easier in Washington state to prosecute police officers in shooting cases," the Los Angeles Times reports. "It has also emerged as a key example in a wider push to require police dash and body cameras, which were not in place when Le was killed."

More here: He was 20 and unarmed. A police shooting brings Seattle's Vietnamese Americans into the world of activism

Autopsy: Tommy Le Shot Twice in Back by Police for Holding a Pen | #JusticeforTommyLe

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.



On June 14th, twenty-year-old Tommy Le was shot and killed just outside of Seattle, Washington by King County Sheriff’s deputy Cesar Molina. After the shooting, Molina insisted that Le was shot for approaching police aggressively while wielding an object that appeared to be a knife, and that Le further refused to comply with officer orders to drop the weapon.

That version of events is now in serious doubt after an investigation revealed that Le was actually holding a pen, not a knife, when he was shot and killed; and now, an autopsy of Le’s body further shows that Le was actually shot twice in the back, and a third time in the back of the hand. Those findings are incompatible with Molina’s insistence that Le was approaching police when he was killed.

Finally, toxicology reports show that Le was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. Although it remains possible that Le was suffering a mental health crisis at the time of his killing, Le’s family say that he had no history of mental illness.

"Tommy deserves justice and closure."

Donate to the family of Tommy Le, who was killed by police while holding a pen.


Photo Credit: seattlepi.com
In Washington state, 20-year-old Tommy Le was shot and killed by King County Sheriff's deputies on June 13 -- the day before he was supposed to graduate from an alternative high school program. Officers were responding to a call about a man armed with what they thought was a knife. He turned out to be holding a pen.

'My baby is kind': Family tries to make sense of young man's killing by deputies in Burien

It's been over a month since the shooting, but Le's family and the local Vietnamese American community still don't have satisfactory answers about what transpired on the night he died. Last week, community members held a public forum to seek answers from the sheriff's office and other elected officials about Le's death.

Many in attendance at the forum questioned King County Sheriff John Urquhart on the details of shooting, pointing out inconsistencies in the deputies' account. Others urged for increased de-escalation training and accountability for police in cases of deadly force.

Urquhart said that the Sheriff's Office will ask the FBI to take over investigation of the shooting.

Police fatally shoot man wielding "what they thought was a knife." It was a pen.

20-year-old Tommy Le was killed by a King County Sheriff's deputy on June 14.



In Washington state, a 20-year-old student was shot and killed by police responding to reports of a man wielding a knife. He turned out to be carrying a pen. Now his family and community members want answers.

Man killed by King County deputy was carrying a pen, not a knife as initially reported

Tommy Le, who had just graduated from an alternative high school completion program at South Seattle College, was fatally shot by a King's County Sheriff's deputy on June 14.

Sheriff's deputies were reportedly summoned to a Burien neighborhood by several 911 calls about a man threatening residents with a knife or "sharp object." Deputies say they found that a homeowner had fired a "warning shot" in an attempt to scare off a man -- later identified to be Le -- who had been chasing his friend.

When Le continued to approach, the homeowner fled back inside his house. Le, who was barefoot, then pounded on the door and stabbed it, screaming he was "The Creator." Deputies say Le refused to comply with orders to drop "what they thought was a knife," and that firing tasers "had no effect." When Le moved toward officers, Deputy Cesar Molina shot him three times. He died of his injuries at the hospital.

A week after the shooting, the sheriff's office revealed that the "sharp object" in Le's hand was a pen.

Officer, at least unbuckle his seat belt before you unjustly beat the shit out of him.

Dash cam video of Minnesota traffic stop shows police officer violently assaulting motorist.



The ACLU of Minnesota is calling for an investigation into the police officers who pulled over a motorist and violently assaulted him. Dash cam footage shows one officer viciously beating the young man who is still buckled in his car seat, while another officer purposely turns off the camera's audio.

In the Blink of an Eye, Police Officers Turned This Traffic Stop Into an Unnecessarily Violent Encounter

Anthony Promvongsa was driving in Worthington, Minnesota on July 28, 2016 when Agent Joe Joswiak of the Buffalo Ridge Drug Task Force pulled him over and proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Well, first Joswiak threw open Promvongsa's door and screamed "Get the fuck out of the car, motherfucker!" Then he beat the shit out of him. Promvongsa didn't even get a chance to unbuckle his seat belt before Joswiak started swinging.

In police dash cam footage obtained by the ACLU, Joswiak can be seen punching, kicking and elbowing Promvongsa several times in the back before yanking him out of the driver's seat of his Honda Pilot, throwing him to the ground. Then he presses his knee to the back of Promvongsa's neck, pinning him face down on the pavement while he and Sgt. Tim Gaul of the Worthington Police Department handcuffed him.

At some point, Gaul intentionally turns off the audio of the encounter. After he is placed inside the squad car, Promvongsa can be heard breathing heavily and sobbing.

Start a Conversation with Letters for Black Lives

An Open Letter Project on Anti-Blackness



Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in our families and communities. The project started out as an intergenerational note from Asian American children to their parents, voicing concerns and support for the Black community.

The goal was to create a starting point for difficult conversations. "Talking about race and police violence in Asian communities has always been difficult," said Christina Xu, one of the letter's lead organizers. "There are language and cultural barriers, media access issues and unresolved distrust between communities."

The letter first appeared as a Google Doc last Thursday, July 7 and has attracted contributions from hundreds of people around the world, ballooning into an international, multilingual project spanning translations in over thirty languages and dialects, as well as additional versions spoken from the perspectives of other communities who share similar concerns (Latinx, Canadians, African Immigrants, among others).

Many more are now building on the project with their own voices through audio, video and images.