State agencies lack chokehold rules

Many S. Florida police departments don’t address tactics that killed Floyd

At least seven South Florida law enforcement agencies have use-of-force policies that are silent on chokeholds, sleeper holds and other neck restraints under renewed scrutiny in the wake of George Floyd’s death, according to a South Florida Sun Sentinel review.

Protesters chanting “I Can’t Breathe” have called for a ban on those techniques, which involve subduing a person by temporarily cutting off blood to the brain.

Two agencies — the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Hialeah Police Department — explicitly allow neck restraints to be used when deadly force is not warranted.

Use-of-force experts say police departments need to have clear and precise policies on when chokeholds can be used by officers, but the Sun Sentinel’s review of 24 law enforcement agencies in South Florida found that isn’t always the case.

Officials with two agencies — the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Wilton Manors Police Department — revised their policies this week, with Wilton Manors’ change specifically in response to Floyd’s death.

Seven agencies don’t explicitly address neck restraints in use-of-force policies. Those police departments are Boynton Beach, Coral Springs, Delray Beach, Hollywood, Lighthouse Point, Pembroke P i n e s, a n d Su n r i s e. A spokesman for the Delray Beach Police Department said its policy is being revisited to meet state and national accreditation standards and noted that the department uses FDLE-approved vascular neck restraints, which are not designed to restrict airflow and are not chokeholds.

Fourteen agencies allow neck restraints to be used only as a last resort in situations where deadly force would be justified. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s policy reads, “Due to the inherent risk of causing death or serious and permanent brain damage the Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint (LVNR), (sleeper chokehold) or any maneuver or tactic that prevents breathing or obstructs an individual’s airway is prohibited except in cases where it is reasonably necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.” Other agencies or police departments with similar policies are Boca Raton, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office, Coconut Creek, Davie, Hallandale Beach, Lauderhill, Margate, Miami, Miramar, Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office, Plantation, West Palm Beach, and Wilton Manors.

Three agencies have policies on neck restraints that don’t explicitly limit them to deadly-force situations. Miami-Dade Police Department officers are taught the “applied carotid triangle restraint,” which is a “vascular neck restraint,” according to department spokesman Angel Rodriguez. The Hialeah Police Department also allows the “applied carotid triangle restraint” to be used when “a subject displays aggressive resistance.” A smaller department, Hillsboro Beach, prohibits neck restraints unless “exigent circumstances apply.”

Jon Shane, a use-of-force expert, said policies that are silent on neck restraints can give officers cover to use the risky tactic in situations where it is not justified.

“They will rely on that and go back and say, ‘Nobody told me I couldn’t do it,’” said Shane, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Police departments absolutely in the wake of these most recent events should audit their policies and update the language.”

Some agencies are doing just that. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Wilton Manors Police Department added language this week to clarify that neck restraints should be a last resort. Officials with the Boynton Beach Police Department and Sunrise Police Department say they will be reviewing their policies in the wake of Floyd’s death.

The Sunrise Police Department’s policy does prohibit “strikes to the throat and impact weapon strikes to the side of the neck,” a spokesman said, but it does not explicitly address neck restraints.

A technique called the Vascular Neck Restraint, better known as a sleeper hold, is approved to be taught on an optional basis to police recruits, said Jessica Cary, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement

But nothing in Florida’s training protocols teaches officers to place a knee on a person’s neck, Cary said.

Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds to the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill, according to a criminal complaint. Chauvin is now facing second-degree murder, thirddegree murder and manslaughter charges. Three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting for not intervening.

All four officers were fired a day after Floyd’s death on Memorial Day.

The Vascular Neck Restraint is intended to cut off blood to the brain and render a person unconscious while not obstructing their airway. But if done incorrectly, it can be deadly. The death of Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold by a New York City police officer, sparked outrage in 2014.

Garner’s dying words of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

South Florida police heads stressed that neck restraints aren’t part of their training regimens. Law enforcement agencies across the country have been moving away from the tactic because of its inherent danger.

“I have been doing this for 34 years, and I have never been trained in neck restraints,” said John Kazanjian, president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association. “We just don’t teach that. We do a lot of hand-to -hand, ground fighting. If you are going to use a neck restraint, that is going to be your last resort.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, the former chief of the Orlando Police Department, called for swift action on the issue in an interview with MSNBC.

“We know that many pol i c e d e p a r t me n t s h ave banned them, but let’s totally ban neck restraints,” said Demings, who is on Joe Biden’s vice presidential short list. “We can do that today. If officers decide they don’t want to follow the policies or the rules, then fire them.”

The Minneapolis Police Department had allowed neck restraints to be used as non-deadly force, but it did not sanction or train officers to put a knee on a person’s neck. And on Friday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the City Council approved a tentative agreement that would ban police officers from using neck restraints and chokeholds, as well as require officers to intervene if inappropriate force is being used.

Since the beginning of 2015, police had rendered 44 people unconscious through the use of neck restraints, according to an NBC investigation.

Kazanjian, a reserve deputy in Palm Beach County, said he’d have no objections to agencies banning neck restraints.

“We all have to suffer for his actions,” Kazanjian said of the Minneapolis officer. “We are making all these gains, and he just set us back.”

Staff writer Aric Chokey and Orlando Sentinel writer Grace Touhey contributed to this report.

Skyler Swisher can be reached at sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher.

MIKE STOCKER/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL A demonstrator holds an “I Can’t Breathe” sign during a protest in Broward County.

MIKE STOCKER/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL Protesters lie down in the middle of North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on Friday to represent the amount of time a police officer had his knee on George Floyd’s neck while he died.