Fresno City Council votes on controversial ‘stranglehold’ restraint used by police
The Fresno City Council on Thursday banned the use of the chokehold police commonly call a “carotid restraint,” which was deemed too dangerous by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The hold, which compresses the carotid artery in a person’s neck, came under greater scrutiny after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. The Fresno City Council unanimously approved the ban Thursday without discussion.
Newsom said on June 5 he’ll remove the technique from statewide law enforcement training and is endorsing a bill, AB 1196, to ban the chokehold.
He said there is no longer a place for a policing tactic “that literally is designed to stop people’s blood from flowing into their brain.” He said the state must ban “strangleholds that put people’s lives at risk.”
Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall earlier had temporarily banned the hold in a memo to officers unless it is used for “preservation of life or to prevent serious bodily injury to the officer,” the memo said.
Still, Hall this week said he would be hesitant to completely ban carotid restraints. “If it’s to save a life, I’d be concerned about totally banning something,” he said on Monday. “If I could get the officer to do that rather than shoot the person, I’d prefer that.”
The council’s ban came the same day that Black Lives Matter Day was unanimously recognized by the city.
A crowd gathered outside City Hall and participated in art projects to support Fresno’s Black community. Organizers said they plan to make it an annual event.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 11:32 AM.
