Community Groups Call On SDPD To Stop Using Controversial Neck Restraint

Speaker 1: 00:00 The police say it's an effective form of non deadly restraint, but last night, activists at a town hall meeting at San Diego state cold for an end to the carotid restraint tactic saying it's too often used on black and Brown members of the community. The racial justice coalition organize the meeting at the university's black resource center. That town hall event is part of the coalition's ongoing. I can't breathe campaign, also known as ban. The chokehold joining me is professor of Africana studies at San Diego state university, Darwin Fishman. Professor Fishman is also a member of activist San Diego and the racial justice coalition and professor, welcome to the program. Thank you for bringing me in. Why do you believe police have to stop using this kind of restraint? Speaker 2: 00:48 I think all the plague tactics and strategies need to be reviewed on a regular basis and there's always room for improvement and it should be based on things like data and how the community feels about it. That's why I think events like that we had last night are so important that the community becomes engaged in these kinds of policies. Speaker 1: 01:06 Now the actual chokehold that puts pressure on the windpipe that has been banned for years in California. This carotid restraint doesn't interfere with breezy breathing. It's used to put pressure on an artery and get a person under control. So why are you mixing up the two methods? Speaker 2: 01:26 Yeah, which is, that's an amusing and the talking points that the police use. So what we've tried to counter that with is Dr. Williams smock, a national advocate for ending chokehold who is a surgeon, medical professional, as well as a police officer. And we use him to explain what medical professionals say, which is if you choke someone from the side of the neck or the front of the neck, you can still not only do give them brain damage, but you can also kill them. So to say, just because you're not choking someone from the front of the neck and using the side, it's actually just as deadly. And people have died from collared restraints. Please choke holds when they've even been used, effectively been used. Right. And this is dr. Presentation presentations, PowerPoint presentation that we passed out and his newest version of the PowerPoint presentation that he uses nationally. He includes San Diego. Uh, enlist us as what basically one of the worst cities. Speaker 1: 02:17 Well, do we have statistics on how many people, uh, have been injured by carotid holes? Speaker 2: 02:24 No. Unfortunately with dr smock says that he is typically going out to cities like recently Los Vegas, where someone's died from the choke choke all being used. And at that point it's too late in the sense that if you change your policy and you phase it out or you change it to consider it lethal force used in the same way as a gun, then you've got a better chance of protecting your community. You don't have to wait until you get a deadly injury. And it's true that the police will say that, well, we haven't basically killed someone since 1992, but that doesn't mean it's any less risky or more dangerous than if it's being used in another place. Any other city Speaker 1: 03:01 during this event or during your activism on this issue, have people come forward to talk about their experiences of being put in a carotid hold? What, what that's actually like, Speaker 2: 03:12 yes. Uh, Desiree Smith was one of our featured speakers last night and her 15 year old son at that time at Lincoln high school was put in a choke hole and uh, thank God he was not killed and there also brings up the issue choke will being used at schools and being used against minors. So we already know that some of the regulations that they have in place are being, uh, they're not being followed. And we think it's really important to highlight that because quite often cases like with Desiree Smith's, her son are not documented and also there's no discipline for the officer. So that's really critical and that's why we're doing these public events highlighting this Speaker 1: 03:54 and the San Diego police department, we call them, they said they just updated their policy on this last June. And I'm wondering, have you seen the new policy? Speaker 2: 04:03 Yeah. We were there at the community review board on pleased practices meeting when chief Nestle came there to really reject the heart of the recommendations from the CRB and the CRB didn't call for an outright ban. They asked for it to be changed in the matrix of force to be along the lines of lethal force that was rejected with the police accepted or things like that. After they use it, the person would be automatically taken to a hospital by ambulance and that they would not use it in training with police officers, which is great for trekking, protecting police officers and training, but does nothing to protect the community and they really basically in that sense missed the whole point. What the CRB with dr smock, well, we're all asking for is a more substantial change in the policy and to be in line with all the major cities in the U S that have already outlawed it or again, changed the policy to make on the par of using a gun lethal force. Speaker 1: 04:55 What are some of the cities that have outlawed the use of the carotid restraint? Speaker 2: 05:01 Well, certainly the most high profile one we know about is New York because as we followed the case and the tragic death of Eric Garner, we know the officer was fired five years later and the basis of being fired was because the chokehold was illegal. That would never happen in San Diego because there's no policy for that. So even if someone was, um, if we had a worst case scenario where someone actually died from the chokehold, there is nothing there in the policy that would say actually that was incorrect or that it's illegal and there'd be no disciplining of the officer. The officer, they used the choke hold against Desiree Smith's son. He was never disciplined for it. And that's again, w are the issue that we have because we know what's being used. We know it's also being used incorrectly and no officer's ever been disciplined for this. Speaker 1: 05:43 Now, assembly woman, Shirley Weber, who just got the police use of force rules changed in California is also against this method of restraint. But she could have put that prohibition in one of her bills. And I'm wondering, isn't it included? Do you know? Speaker 2: 05:59 My understanding from AB three 92 is that it's about use of force for the place and it doesn't limit it in that sense to only guns. The issue is whether or not chokehold should be considered as lethal force. Technically San Diego police force does not considerate lethal force. Most all police forces, whether or not they abandoned or not considerate lethal force and that's how they guide their officers and training and guide their policy. Again, San Diego has been on willing to change that at all and we're really trying to push them to change that and hopefully have city council and the mayor do that and we also know that city council has just voted in support of AB three 92 Shirley Weber's bill that changed the standard for police use of force. So the city in that sense does support this and it's really hopefully a matter of time before they'll, they'll recognize this. The significance of choke holes be considered. Also lethal force and Eric Garner should have hopefully continued to be a national wake up call for us about how deadly they can be and also how they're used in situations like, um, am selling cigarettes, which is something like an infraction and or misdemeanors where you don't really need that level of force. Deescalation should be the emphasis. The training should be on that for officers. And there are others tactics and strategies that they can use. Speaker 1: 07:17 I've been speaking with professor of Africana studies at San Diego state university, Darwin Fishman, professor Fishman. Thank you very much for speaking with us. Thank you.