Name: Phoenix police will stop using strangleholds on people, chief says
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Phoenix police will stop using strangleholds on people, chief says

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsPhoenix police officers will be banned from using&nbsp;a technique meant to cut the flow of blood to the brain, Chief Jeri Williams announced on Tuesday.In a statement, Williams said the Police Department will also stop training on the technique, known as the carotid control hold. The change in policy is effective immediately, she said.Williams' announcement comes after nearly two weeks of protests in Phoenix and around the world&nbsp;demanding justice for George Floyd, who was killed by a now-former Minneapolis police officer. The officer had his knee on Floyd's neck for about eight minutes, as Floyd cried, "I can't breathe."Demonstrators have also demanded justice for people killed by police in Arizona.In Phoenix, the case of&nbsp;Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin&nbsp;Jr., who was killed by Phoenix police officers after placing their knees on his head and neck,&nbsp;for advocates demanding that police officers stop using techniques that could kill people.Muhaymin was heard yelling&nbsp;"I cannot breathe" repeatedly on police body camera depicting his arrest and death.In 1994, Edward Mallet, 25,&nbsp;was killed after a Phoenix police&nbsp;officer put him in a chokehold.&nbsp;He also cried, "I can't breathe," witnesses told The&nbsp;Arizona Republic at the time."We can't function as a department without the trust of our community and there are adjustments we can make to strengthen that trust,” Williams said Tuesday.&nbsp; “We pride ourselves on being an organization willing to learn and evolve, to listen to our community and become better. I am confident this moves us closer to that goal." Specifically, the Police Department will no longer use the&nbsp;carotid control technique."To perform this hold, an officer bends his or her arm around a subject's neck, applying pressure on either side of the windpipe—but not on the windpipe itself—to slow or stop the flow of blood to the brain via the carotid arteries," Other police departments across the country have recently banned the use of&nbsp;similar strangleholds&nbsp;Williams' announcement received mixed reactions from advocates, police and city leaders.Michael "Britt" London, the president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the&nbsp;union that represents the Police Department's rank-and-file, said he likes that Williams is engaging with the community. But he said she should also be engaging with the officers she is supposed to lead."At this time, due to the limited information and lack of communication we have received, we are unsure how suspending the Carotid Control Technique accomplishes the goal of strengthening trust with the community, since the technique has not been viewed negatively within the Phoenix Police Department," he said.He added that officers "are anxiously awaiting information regarding a replacement for this less-lethal response option."&nbsp;&nbsp;Mayor Kate Gallego welcomed the news, saying in a tweet,&nbsp;"I strongly support the decision of" Williams.Councilman Michael&nbsp;Nowakowski also said he supported Williams' decision."That's some good&nbsp;news and I&nbsp;just want to thank everyone&nbsp;who is&nbsp;working&nbsp;hard to make sure our police officers&nbsp;are doing the right thing and getting&nbsp;the proper training," he said during a City Council meeting.Benjamin Taylor, a Phoenix attorney who has represented people in excessive force cases filed against the city, said he also supported the change in policy.“Chief Williams made the right decision for eliminating this chokehold," he said in a statement. "This policy has dramatically impacted the lives of many minority communities.&nbsp;I hope this is just the beginning of comprehensive criminal justice reform for their department.”Jamaar Williams, a spokesman for Black Lives Matter Metro Phoenix, said in a statement that the chief's move is not enough to build trust. He said the change is the minimum she could do.In&nbsp;order to create trust, he said, the chief must make the Police Department more transparent. He said people should have more access to use-of-force data, to officers' files, unredacted on-body camera footage and other policy issues."With trust comes the sacrifice of the institutional security they have built for themselves for years," he said in a statement. "Open up the books, let us in and we will decide if you deserve to be trusted."&nbsp;He said the chief should know&nbsp;that any physical force used by police on someone can be deadly. Jamaar Williams pointed to the 2012 case of Robert Ramirez in Oxnard, Calif., where Jeri Williams was a police chief at the time.Ramirez had swallowed a large amount of&nbsp;methamphetamine. A friend called 911 for help. When officers showed up, they asked Ramirez to lay on his stomach, according to the Ventura County Star, the local newspaper.When Ramirez stood up,&nbsp;officers took him down and&nbsp;piled on his back. Ramirez said he couldn't breathe. He died as a result, tOxnard paid $2.9 million to Ramirez's family as part of a settlement.Ben Laughlin, an organizer&nbsp;with the advocacy group Poder in Action, also said Chief Williams' action was&nbsp;not enough.Laughlin&nbsp;said some of the Police Department's budget should be repurposed to fund&nbsp;social services that would help young people of color."If the Phoenix police want to be an organization that 'listens to our community,'&nbsp;they will return the $25 million budget increase passed for pay raises and advocate for that money to be redistributed to black and brown youth," Laughlin said.Poder has requested that the City Council decrease funding for the Police Department and use the money for social and education programs. The council has not agreed to consider that proposal.&nbsp;Nearly 30 years ago, advocates had demanded that Phoenix police officers stop using chokeholds.&nbsp;In August 1994, a Phoenix officer used the hold on a double amputee named Edward Mallet, resulting in his death. The local chapter of the&nbsp;National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called that year for the department to ban the technique.Mallet, 25, was pulled over in a convenience store parking lot after he drove through an apartment complex where police suspected drug activity. Police said he became combative when confronted by officers. He was taken to the ground and placed in a neck hold.Two witnesses told Republic reporters at the time that Mallet said&nbsp;“I can’t breathe” during the struggle. An internal affairs report&nbsp;concludeD that both the man’s artificial legs came off during the struggle, but stayed inside his jeans. Officers later placed them on the trunk of the car and one checked them for drugs.''The black man was screaming 'I can't breathe! Stop! I can't breathe!' '' Martha Dole told the Arizona Republic in September 1994.&nbsp;''He was crying and kept repeating, 'Help me! Help me!' He was drooling out of his mouth.''An autopsy report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office said Mallet&nbsp;died of a heart attack caused by an unusual reflex reaction to the stimulation of one of his carotid arteries during the fight.Mallet, who had worked with officers to give anti-gang talks to students, had no weapons or drugs in his car, a search later revealed.The City Council approved a $5.3 million payment to Mallet's parents in 1998. The settlement came after a jury decided that Mallet'sUriel Garcia covers public-safety issues in Arizona. Reach him at . Follow him on Twitter Arizona Republic reporters Jessica Boehm and Richard Ruelas contributed to this report.Support local journalism. today.View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsPhoenix police officers will be banned from using&nbsp;a technique meant to cut the flow of blood to the brain, Chief Jeri Williams announced on Tuesday.In a statement, Williams said the Police Department will also stop training on the technique, known as the carotid control hold. The change in policy is effective immediately, she said.Williams' announcement comes after nearly two weeks of protests in Phoenix and around the world&nbsp;demanding justice for George Floyd, who was killed by a now-former Minneapolis police officer. The officer had his knee on...

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Uriel J. Garcia

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Phoenix police will stop using strangleholds on people, chief says

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