Minnesota lawmakers pass police accountability package

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Legislature passed a broad slate of police accountability measures early Tuesday that includes a ban on neck restraints like the one that was used on George Floyd before his death in Minneapolis.

The package also bans chokeholds and so-called warrior-style training, which critics say promotes excessive force. It imposes a duty to intercede on officers who see a colleague using excessive force. It changes rules on the use of force to stress the sanctity of life. It makes changes in arbitration rules affecting police unions. Officers will get more training on dealing with people with mental health issues and autism. The measure also creates a new advisory council for the state board that licenses officers.

“This is a really a great bill, but it is only a first step,” Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said at a news conference. “It paves the way for transformational change, but it doesn’t bring about transformational change.”

Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, of Golden Valley, told reporters that Minnesota will “continue to live in a powder keg” as long as its racial inequities in health, education, income and policing continue to exist.

“It is vitally important for the world to see us pass this legislation,” Winkler said. “Of course, it’s more important to protect the lives of people in our state. But Minnesota, I think, has suffered a severe reputational hit in the world. And it’s because we have revealed the truth of our state, which is that we are among the worst when it comes to racial equality. And that cannot continue.”

Passage came after nearly two months of negotiations that followed Floyd’s death May 25 and the ensuing unrest over police brutality and racism. The Black man was restrained face down in the street while handcuffed and with three officers holding him down, including a white officer who had a knee to Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.