Choke holds once taught to Chicago police, now banned

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team looked into Chicago police and the use of choke holds during arrests.

The choke hold that resulted in Eric Garner's death in New York is not taught to Chicago police nor is it approved for use by Chicago police. A Chicago police official reiterated Wednesday night what the I-Team has found going through the rules and regulations of the police department here. But in New York, choke holds are also banned for use by police.

Choke holds, or any move that restricts a person's breathing, have been banned since 1993 under NYPD patrol guidelines. That policy didn't stop officer prevent Officer Daniel Pantaleo from using a strangle hold on 43-year-old Staten Island resident Eric Garner last summer.

While Chicago police general orders don't mention the term choke hold, the language does effectively ban such suspect control methods. Chicago policy does allow holding techniques such as a firm grip, grabbing an arm and wristlocks, and even pain compliance techniques including pressure to pain sensors and to the skin covering bones and joints.

Policy also allows more advanced controls such as pepper spray, the use of a Taser, canine units and impact weapons, such as a baton.

But after gaining control of a suspect, Chicago officers are directed to avoid sitting, kneeling, standing on a subject's chest, thereby reducing their ability to breathe. They must position a subject to allow free breathing and not put the subject not face down.

Fourteen years ago this week there was a police choke hold case on the West Side of Chicago very similar to the one that took place in New York. A suspect put in a neck hold died from asphyxiation. It was ruled a homicide but there were no criminal charges filed. The suspect's family filed a federal civil rights suit and lost. They appealed and lost that.

Choke holds weren't always banned by Chicago Police. "At one point in time it was taught at the Academy," recalls former Chicago Police spokesman Pat Camden, now with the Fraternal Order of Police union.

"That is no longer the case," Camden told the I-Team. "I do not think there is a specific order regarding its use, but if it is used, I am sure you have better be justified," he said.

The general order that effectively prohibits such neck holds is dated May, 2012.