Arlington police modify neck restraint policy in wake of George Floyd’s death
Arlington police officers have been told vascular neck restraints will now be re-classified as deadly force, according to an internal department memo sent Friday.
This follows the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who dug his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while other officers watched. Floyd told the officer multiple times that he couldn’t breathe. The officer has been charged with murder.
Arlington officers can only use vascular neck restraints if they encounter deadly resistance from a suspect, interim Police Chief Jaime Ayala said in the memo.
According to the department’s 2018 use of force report, no use of vascular neck restraints was reported. There have been three vascular neck restraints reported by the department’s officers since 2014.
The Fort Worth Police Department has had a similar policy in place since 1991.
Fort Worth police officers can’t use chokeholds or any other type of neck-restraining techniques unless they are protecting themselves or others from a threat of serious bodily injury or death, according to the department’s general orders.
In Dallas, Police Chief U. Renee Hall announced a new general order on June 4 that would require Dallas Police Department employees to intervene if they see physical force being inappropriately used by another employee. Chokeholds or anything else that can restrict a person’s airways will also be banned.
Hall said in a news release that the policy was created to make sure what happened to Floyd doesn’t happen in Dallas.
The Fort Worth Police Department has had a duty to intervene policy in its use of force training since at least July 2017.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
