The chokehold being blamed for the death of Eric Garner during a confrontation with New York police in July is technically legal as a deadly force alternative, but you won’t find it in the trained tactical arsenal of the Shawano police or county sheriff’s departments.
Shawano Police Chief Mark Kohl said most law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin forbid their officers from using it.
“It’s an advanced level training technique called the lateral vascular neck restraint,” Kohl said. “It’s common practice in West Coast law enforcement, maybe New York. In Wisconsin, I only know a few agencies that allow that.”
The move is intended to restrict blood and oxygen to the brain, making the subject pass out.
A video of the Eric Garner incident has received widespread media attention in recent weeks.
“From what I’ve seen from the New York incident, the application of the neck restraint was put on incorrectly,” Kohl said.
Kohl said pressure is supposed to be placed on the side of the neck. In Garner’s case, pressure was apparently applied to the larynx, “which is improper,” Kohl said.
A grand jury recently decided no charges should be filed against the officer. That incident and the shooting death of Michael Brown by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, are causing law enforcement agencies nationwide to review their policies for the use of lethal force.
Kohl said his department’s rules follow the state Department of Justice policies and procedures for the use of force, set by the DOJ’s Law Enforcement Training Bureau out of Madison. Kohl has been certified in the use of all those tactics.
Kohl said the Garner incident would likely have had a different outcome if it happened here.
“We would not advocate — nor through training — jumping on someone’s back and attempting a chokehold,” he said.
Kohl said verbal direction and dialogue would always be the first option, with the possible use of pepper spray or an electronic control device, commonly known as a Taser, if the subject continued to resist.
“Through our training I’m very confident our officers would have handled it differently,” Kohl said. “We would take them down, control that person with handcuffs quickly and efficiently, assess his medical condition and if the need be, render aid and summon paramedics.”
Rules for use of a weapon, such as in the Ferguson case, are stricter.
While an officer can draw a weapon to be prepared in a situation where there is potential danger, firing that weapon requires a belief that there is the possibility of death or great bodily harm.
“They can fire that weapon when they believe there is intentional, immediate death or great bodily harm, if no other resources are available,” Kohl said.
John Gutho, Shawano County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy, said law enforcement’s first option is always to defuse a situation so that it doesn’t become a situation where force is necessary.
“Deploying deadly force is always a last resort,” he said. “If we can effectively neutralize a situation short of deadly force, that’s the goal.”
Gutho said he has not seen the Garner video. He said the tactic used isn’t part of the department’s rule book.
“We do not do chokeholds,” he said. “That, in my opinion, would be the use of deadly force.”
However, Gutho wouldn’t rule out the use of a chokehold if all else fails.
“If that’s the only tool you had; if batons don’t work, Tasers don’t work, pepper spray don’t work. If you’re in some kind of all-out brawl and it’s a hands-on confrontation, it may come to that,” he said.
Gutho said it’s the subject being arrested who makes that decision.
“If they comply with your commands and you can secure them with handcuffs, that’s a good day,” he said. “If they continue to threaten you, that’s when things can go bad. If they don’t listen to law enforcement and they don’t drop the weapon and they don’t stop and continue the threat, they made that decision.”
What has exacerbated the outrage over the Ferguson and New York incidents, however, isn’t just the tactics used, but the lack of any indictments of the officers involved after local prosecutors presented evidence to grand juries.
That aspect would also have been different here, according to Kohl and Gutho.
“If there is a death involved, we would contact the Department of Justice for an impartial investigation,” Kohl said.
Even without a death, an outside investigation could be warranted, he said.
“If any conduct has shocked the consciousness of the community and Police Department, we will ask for an outside agency,” Kohl said.
Kohl said that applied even to an officer’s off-duty conduct.
“You can’t have that conflict, that perceived conflict of interest,” he said.
Gutho said the same rules apply for the sheriff’s department.
“If we were involved in some type of controversy, usually we’ll get an outside agency,” he said. “If there’s an officer-involved shooting or alleged misconduct that’s on a high level, we’ll contact normally the Department of Justice. A criminal investigation will come in and we’ll turn everything over to them. They conduct an investigation and turn the results over to a district attorney to determine if there was wrong-doing.”
The lack of indictments in the Ferguson and New York cases has perpetuated the notion that police aren’t held responsible.
Kohl said the rules should apply to everyone, including law enforcement.
“I’d like to think that if someone did do wrong and it was of a criminal nature, just like anyone else in the community, they should be indicted,” he said.
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