Hog Tied, Knee-to-the-neck, Chokeholds: Will They ever Ban These Slavery-esque-Cop Restraits? Maybe

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The three officers acquitted in the killing of Manuel Ellis were accused of utilizing an inhumane restraint that led to Ellis’ death. Now, lawmakers are seeking to place a ban on the technique.

When Ellis was apprehended by Tacoma police officers, he was allegedly beaten him, tased multiple times and tackled him to the ground where they hog-tied him: placing the hands and feet in handcuffs behind his back while he laid face down. Monday, legislators raised concern about the restraint technique, citing that it is often a risk for suffocation which was a significant factor in Ellis’ death.

“How do we move through the need for folks to enforce the laws, but do it in a way where they’re treating people the way we expect, which is as human beings?” said Democratic Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, per The AP.

This type of policy work doesn’t stop at Mr. Ellis. The inhumane restraints and compliance techniques police departments teach their employees aren’t that far off from the forms of physical torture Black people were subject to during slavery. However, it’s considered legal now because instead of metal shackles and iron masks, it’s handcuffs and headlocks by a man with a badge and gun.

George Floyd

Former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck, pinning him down on his main airway for nearly ten minutes. Even after Floyd stopped resisting and voiced his struggle to breathe, Chauvin remained there. The city’s police chief testified at his trial that his actions violated policy.

That type of knee-to-neck restraint had been banned already in several agencies across the state of Minnesota but for some reason, it was still tolerated as a “non-deadly use of force” technique in Minneapolis, Business Insider reports. The city council agree in an emergency vote to ban chokeholds and neck-pinning maneuvers just a few months after Floyd was killed in 2020, per NPR.