Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe made his first public remarks Thursday night about the federal indictments of several city police officers in October for civil rights violations while at an event honoring community members with keys to the city.
“Our city has been at the center of one of the most vile cases of corruption in the State of California and I'm not gonna be quiet about it,” he said.
Those officers are also at the center of the department’s racist text messaging scandal that has rocked the city.
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“Despite attempts to divide us as a city, we are here and they were not successful at that,” Thorpe said.
The intent Thursday was to create unity amid the scandal.
Robert Collins — who accepted a key to the city on behalf of his wife — is the stepfather of Angel Quinto, who died in police custody in 2020. Collins leads a foundation focusing on police reform in California.
“This is a much bigger issue than our family,” he said. “It's an issue of: how do we move forward with policing and reforming policing? How do we move forward with a organization that wasn’t transparent?”
The mayor added that police reform will continue to be a top priority in order to restore trust between the police department and the community.
“Everything is not fine,” Thorpe said. “And it’s important that people understand we recognize that.”
