Friday, 19 Apr 2024

Minneapolis agrees to BAN cops from using chokeholds after killing of George Floyd – The Sun

MINNEAPOLIS officials have banned police from using chokeholds — and request fellow cops to report and intervene anytime they see an officer using unauthorized force on a suspect.

The ban comes less than two weeks after George Floyd died after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin held his knee against the back of Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, despite saying multiple times that he couldn't breathe.

The ban came after the Minnesota Department of Human rights launched a civil rights investigation this week in response to Floyd's death on May 25 after he was arrested for allegedly trying to use a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a deli.

Negotiators between the city of Minneapolis and the department agreed to the ban, which will be enforceable in court.

It would require any officer — regardless of their tenure or rank — to immediately report the use of any neck restraint or chokehold from the scene to their commander or their commander’s superiors.

Any officer who sees another officer use any unauthorized force, including chokeholds or neck restraints, has to try to intervene verbally and physically.

If the officer doesn't try to stop what's happening, they will be subject to discipline as severe as if they themselves had used the banned force themselves.

The agreement requires authorization from the police chief or a deputy chief to use crowd control weapons — including chemical agents, rubber bullets, flash-bangs, batons, and marking rounds.


It also requires more timely decisions on disciplining officers.

The city council is expected to approve the agreement on Friday.

Chauvin, the officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd's death who had been on the force for 19 years, has been involved in numerous police-involved shootings, according to the Star Tribune.

In 2006, he and five other officers responded to a stabbing in Minneapolis.

According to the outlet, after Wayne Reyes, 42, pulled out a shotgun on the officers, one of the cops fatally shot the man.

Just two years later, in 2008, Chauvin allegedly shot and wounded Ira Latrell Toles during a domestic assault call after Toles allegedly grabbed for an officer's gun.

Chauvin then shot him in the abdomen.

Around the world, police chokeholds are being scrutinized following Floyd's death, which reminded many of the 2014 death of Eric Garner in New York City.

Garner was a black man who repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” in his final moments; his death gave a voice to a national debate over race and police use of force.

Floyd's death came from a knee-on-the-neck hold.

Officers across the US have been filmed using force against both violent and peaceful protesters.

A week before Floyd's death, an officer in Sarasota, Florida, was filmed using his knee while arresting a suspect.

During one recent protest in Seattle, a demonstrator was filmed getting arrested — while an officer held his knee on the man's neck.

Witnesses shout for the cop to move his knee, and eventually, a fellow arresting officer forcefully pulls his knee off the man's neck.

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