Most Minnesota law enforcement agencies ban the neck-pinning maneuver used against George Floyd — but it's still allowed in Minneapolis

 
Article by Kelly McLaughlin in "Insider":

• George Floyd, 46, died on Monday after a Minneapolis police officer subdued him for eight minutes by putting a knee on his neck. 
• Police in Minneapolis are still allowed to kneel on a suspect's neck under the department's use-of-force policy, but it can only be used by officers who have been trained on how to do so without putting direct pressure on the airway.
• It's unknown if the officer to restrained Floyd was properly trained in how to use the knee maneuver used before Floyd's death.
• Four officers have been fired because of the incident, and a former director of one of the police department's training facilities says police went too far.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The maneuver police used to restrain George Floyd before his death is no longer allowed in most Minnesota law-enforcement agencies, but in Minneapolis, it's allowed as a "non-deadly force option" if officers are properly trained.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Monday after being subdued for eight minutes by a police officer who was seen on video kneeling on his neck. In the video of the incident, Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying "I can't breathe."

Four police officers were fired after the incident, and the two who have been identified — Derek Chauvin, who was seen with his knee on Floyd's neck, and Tuo Thao, who was standing nearby — have been involved in use-of-force incidents in the past, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The Star-Tribune reports that kneeling on a suspect's neck is no longer allowed in most Minnesota law enforcement agencies. But in Minneapolis, certain officers can still use the maneuver.

Minneapolis police are still allowed to kneel on a suspect's neck under the department's use-of-force policy

In Minneapolis, the move is still allowed under the department's use-of-force policy, but only for officers who have been trained on how to do so without putting direct pressure on the suspect's airway, USA Today reported. The move, according to the department's policy handbook seen by USA Today, is considered a "non-deadly force option" by the Minneapolis police department.

Mylan Masson, a former Minneapolis police officer and the former director of law enforcement and criminal justice education at Hennepin Technical College, which trains half of Minnesota's police force, told the Star-Tribune that until at least 2016, officers were taught to put pressure on the sides of perpetrators' necks to de-escalate situations.

She said that she was troubled by the video of Floyd and the prolonged use of the maneuver in his case.

"Once the [officer] is in control, then you release," Masson said. "That's what use of force is: You use it till the threat has stopped."

George Kirkham, a professor emeritus at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, told the Star-Tribune that the maneuver of putting a knee on a suspect's neck isn't often taught in police academies anymore, because it is a risky move that can cause brain death in just a few minutes.

"The man was prone on the ground. He was no threat to anyone," Kirkham said of Floyd. 

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told reporters on Tuesday that the department is investigating Floyd's death.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey banned warrior-style police training

Last year, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey banned "warrior-style" training, which he said prioritizes officer safety over community safety.

The Minneapolis Police Department has since focused on "guardian" tactics, in which deadly force is used as a last resort. On its website, the department says officers would deny any opportunities to take warrior-like training.

Minneapolis's police union has publicly opposed the policy and last year said they would offer warrior training for free.

A spokesperson in Frey's office told Insider that the union's plan never amounted to anything.

"The police union obviously hates the policy but the policy itself was never overturned or undermined as far as we can tell," the spokesperson said. "The training they bragged about never materialized."

Two of the officers involved in Floyd's death have histories of use-of-force incidents

Chauvin and Thao joined the force long before any recent policy changes. 

Chauvin, 44, had been with the force for 19 years before Floyd's death. In 2008, Chauvin shot and injured a man during a domestic assault call after the man grabbed for his gun, according to the Star-Tribune. In 2006, he was one of six officers responding to a stabbing, in which Wayne Reyes, 42, was shot and killed after police said he pulled a shotgun on officers, Communities United Against Police Brutality, a police watchdog nonprofit based in Minneapolis, reported in 2018. 

It's unknown if Chauvin was properly trained in how to use the knee maneuver used before Floyd's death.

Thao, who first joined the force in 2009, was sued in 2017 for excessive use of force after he and another officer, Robert Thunder, stopped Lamar Ferguson and a pregnant woman for a stop-and-search they were walking home, the Star-Tribune reported.

Ferguson said the officers stopped them without cause, handcuffed him, threw him to the ground, and punched and kicked him. The case settled in court for $25,000.

Neither the Minneapolis Police Department nor the police union immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.

https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-police-george-floyd-maneuver-not-allowed-in-other-cities-2020-5