Mayor de Blasio Vows to Veto Chokehold Bill

By J. DAVID GOODMAN JAN. 13, 2015


Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday sharpened his opposition to a City Council bill that would criminalize the use of chokeholds by New York City police officers, promising to veto the proposed legislation if it reached his desk.

The veto promise came a day after the inspector general for the Police Department released its first report on 10 recent cases in which officers were found to have used the maneuver, banned under police policy since 1993. In several instances, the report said, officers resorted to a chokehold as a “first act” when faced with “verbal resistance.”

That report, and one by the Civilian Complaint Review Board last year, came in response to the death of Eric Garner after an arrest on Staten Island in which an officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokehold to restrain him.

The legislation would make the use of chokeholds by officers — defined as a move that cuts off air or blood flow through the neck — a misdemeanor punishable by prison or a fine, or both.

in full: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-vows-to-veto-chokehold-bill.html?_r=0