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The joy of choking out civilians — never to be seen again.
For those of you who forgot, NYPD was restricted from using chokeholds largely as part of backlash from an officer squeezing the life out a handcuffed man whose last words were spent calling for his mother. Though this restriction was ruled “unnecessarily vague” by NY’s Supreme Court at one point, they’ve recently come to their senses.
A law banning New York law enforcement from using either a chokehold or a move that compresses someone’s diaphragm during an arrest has been reinstated after a state Supreme Court appeals court ruling on Thursday.
Not everyone is happy that New York’s finest can no longer choke the shit out of people in broad daylight:
In response to Thursday’s ruling, Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch released a statement saying the union, which represents the largest group of uniformed officers in New York, is reviewing its legal options.
“Our city leaders need to realize that this ruling deals a direct blow to our fight against the violence that is tearing our city apart,” Lynch said in the statement. “This ill-conceived law makes it virtually impossible for police officers to safely and legally take violent criminals into custody — the very job that New Yorkers are urgently asking us to do.”
I feel like there is something cartoonishly poetic about the Police Benevolent Association, represented by a man whose last name is Lynch, arguing that things like this (which also get used on people who clearly aren’t a threat) are safe or just that I just can’t put my finger on. Or arm crux, rather. Anyhow, it is hard to take considering that federal officers also cannot use chokeholds and they seem to be doing just fine. Or uhh, Los Angeles’ police department banning the practice 40 years ago. Maybe the officers so vehemently against choking out suspects know something about New Yorkers that we civilians are just unaware of. Do the Timbs negate the efficacy of de-escalation strategies? Is chopped cheese residue greasing up suspect wrists such that handcuffs no longer work as intended?
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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