Lawmakers could cut NYPD officers some slack if they vote to tweak the city’s controversial chokehold law. Currently, officers face criminal charges if they compress a suspect’s diaphragm during an arrest, whether intentional or not.
When Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the chokehold bill into law about a month ago, he said concerns were raised about the diaphragm portion of the law, but signed it anyway, saying he thought it could work.
Now, the mayor and the City Council are thinking of making some changes.
“I think there have been honest questions and concerns about what police officers can and cannot do,” De Blasio, a Democrat, said. “We need our police officers to have clear instruction.”
Under the new law, NYPD officers face criminal charges for using chokeholds and also for sitting, kneeling, or standing on a person in a way that compresses the diaphragm.
Police unions are suing the city over the law, which they say threatens officers for doing their jobs in good faith.
The proposed amendment would make it so only people compressing the diaphragm “recklessly” would face charges.
The founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC says lawmakers are trying to recover from what he calls their bad decision.
“We should not wait until months later to want to amend a bill that could potentially save lives. they’re shamed right now. Behind closed doors, they’re gonna try any stop they can to try to reverse what they caused,” Joseph Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC, told NTD.
We contacted the mayor for comment, but he didn’t get back to us immediately.
