The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday instructed officers not to use carotid restraints, chokeholds that restrict or block blood flow to the brain, pending a review by the city’s Police Commission.
The restraint can render people unconscious or, as in the case of George Floyd, who was pinned to the ground by his neck for nearly nine minutes, it can prove fatal.
Floyd, who was black, pleaded that he couldn’t breathe as Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis policeman, pressed his knee into the man’s neck. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter; three more officers have been charged with aiding and abetting those crimes.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore and Eileen Decker, president of the Police Commission, agreed to a moratorium on both the use and the training of carotid restraints until the commission has finished a “detailed review” of department policy regarding the holds, the LAPD said in a statement Monday evening.
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