Hialeah joins growing list of police departments to ban controversial neck restraint
Hialeah police have banned a controversial choke hold technique used to subdue suspects, joining a national wave to eliminate the measure in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis three weeks ago.
Hialeah, the sixth-largest city in the state of Florida and second most populous in Miami-Dade County, made the decision late last week on the same day that Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez banned the same technique for the largest police department in the Southeast U.S.
The move by Hialeah police Chief Sergio Vasquez means that unless an officer is trying to save a life and is willing to kill a subject, the restraint is no longer used by any of the major police departments in the county. Use-of-force experts say the policy is no longer necessary with the advent of other less-than-lethal methods of gaining control, like Tasers and pepper spray and batons.
MIami eliminated the policy almost three decades ago after it was applied to a man already being held down by two officers and he went into a coma and eventually died. The city paid out what was at the time the largest police settlement in U.S. history. The choke hold technique has become so controversial that its elimination is under consideration by both the U.S. House and Senate in a policing reform bill that is currently making its way through Congress.
The neck restraint, which police refer to as the Applied Carotid Triangle restraint, involves placing an arm around a subject from behind and applying pressure for 10 to 12 seconds once the crook of an officer’s elbow is under a person’s chin. Floyd, 41, was killed on May 25 when officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds as three other officers watched and did nothing to stop Chauvin.
The incident was recorded on a cellphone and led to worldwide protests the past three weeks in which marchers have demanded police reform. Several cities in the U.S. have since announced they would ban the less-than-lethal neck restraint.
Hialeah Police Chief Velasquez, who did not respond to several requests for interview on the subject last week, said his department, too, would amend the neck restraint policy to be used only in lethal situations.
“In the past, this restrain technique has been rarely used by members of the Department,” Velazquez said in a statement released last week and obtained by WFOR Channel 4. “The department has other non-lethal weapons/ techniques such as the Taser, pepper spray, and baton to subdue uncooperative individuals. Under my administration, the Hialeah Police Department has never authorized what is being referred to as choke hold.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
