Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly characterized the ban not as a new policy but as clarification of a 1985 order. That order said that "choke holds, which are potentially lethal and unnecessary, will not be routinely used." An exception was when an officer's life was in danger and the choke hold was the "least dangerous alternative method of restraint." The new policy allows no exceptions.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/24/nyregion/kelly-bans-choke-holds-by-officers.html

you say "I can't breathe" 5 times then you die.