Chokehold ban back

Court cuffs cops

New York City’s controversial chokehold ban — dubbed the “diaphragm law”— is back on the books in the Big Apple after a new appeals court ruling Thursday.

The law, passed by the City Council in the wake of the 2021 police murder of George Floyd, took the state’s ban on police chokeholds a step further, making it possible for cops to be charged with a misdemeanor if they do anything during an arrest that restricts a person’s breathing “in any way.”

The law was struck down by State Supreme Court Justice Laurence Love as “unconstitutionally vague” last June on a legal challenge from police unions.

The State Supreme Court Appellate Division fully rejected that argument in a ruling Thursday, saying the lower court “should not have found the diaphragm compression ban to be unconstitutionally vague.”

“The diaphragm compression ban is sufficiently definite to give notice of the prohibited conduct and does not lack objective standards or create the potential for arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement,” the court’s First Judicial Department wrote.

“A trained police officer will be able to tell when the pressure he is exerting on a person’s chest or back, in the vicinity of the diaphragm, is making it hard for the person to breathe, just as a driver should be able to tell when the amount of alcohol he consumed is making it unsafe for him or her to drive (a proxy for high blood-alcohol content).”

Police unions have fought the law in court, claiming it was vague and could prevent cops from properly doing their jobs.

Mayor Adams on the campaign trail was critical of the law, calling it “not realistic.” However, once he took office, his Law Department appealed the lower court’s ruling. A spokesman for Adams said the mayor stands by his prior comments.

PBA President Pat Lynch said his union was “reviewing our legal options.”

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