Police have long known the dangers of holding people in prone restraint. So why do so many keep dying?

Police have long known the dangers of holding people in prone restraint. So why do so many keep dying?

…

As far back as the 1990s, medical experts and law enforcement officials have been aware of the dangers of prone restraint. A number of organizations and law enforcement agencies, including the US Department of Justice, the Chicago police department and the New Orleans police department, warned officers of these dangers and advised them on how to minimize risks.

Many training manuals have since been updated to address the risks of prone restraint and the importance of using the recovery position. Ohio state police officers are forbidden from using prone restraint. A Nevada law forbids the practice. In California, a law that became effective in 2022, AB 490, bans any maneuvers that put people at risk of being unable to breathe due to the position of their body, or positional asphyxia, a common cause of death in prone restraint cases.

But a new review of law enforcement data shows that, despite growing awareness of the dangers of prone restraint, in California the problem is pervasive. After the passage of AB 71, in 2015, California began tracking data about when people died after police use of force. Between 2016 and 2022, at least 22 people have died in the state after being restrained stomach-down by law enforcement officers, according to a new analysis of currently available state use-of-force data by the California Reporting Project, the California Newsroom and the Guardian. Our examination also included police reports, death investigations, district attorney reviews, body-worn camera footage, 911 calls and lawsuits.

  • crossmr
    -64•9 months ago

    It’s interesting how much attention an average of about 2.5 deaths per year is getting.

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-106shrg57118/html/CHRG-106shrg57118.htm

    Last year, NAMI members in Connecticut played a critical role in
    getting the Hartford Courant to investigate the use of restraint in
    psychiatric facilities–which led to publication of the series that
    documented 142 actual deaths around the country over a decade and that
    commissioned a Harvard University report that estimated between 50 and
    150 deaths annually as a result of restraint.

    https://www.agendaalliance.org/news/32-women-die-after-being-restrained/

    Thirty two women died after experiencing restraint over a five year period

    Reality is that medical ‘professionals’ kill more people a year via restraints than any accounting of unjustified police shootings do. I wonder why we don’t see any protests there.

    • @Potatos_are_not_friends
      39•9 months ago

      1. Whataboutism

      2. The amount of people who should be dead from this is zero. Full stop.

    • @Odelay42
      39•9 months ago

      You could have said, “that’s unjustifiable. It’s also reprehensible how many so-called medical professionals kill people with dangerous and negligent restraint practices too.”

      • @[email protected]
        -20•9 months ago

        I think his point is that there’s a lot of protest against the police for this practice, while apparently they’re relatively careful with it.

        There’s talk about some calls being answered by other jobs than the cops but these numbers suggest that could result in more deaths

        And yes if you need to hear it on repeat people being killed is bad

        • @Odelay42
          15•9 months ago

          Fuck the police. They are not careful. Any number of murders by the police is too many. Any number of murders by healthcare workers is too many. We do not have to tolerate one to condemn the other.

          • crossmr
            -3•9 months ago

            and yet we do. This is like yelling at a kid for throwing a candy bar wrapper out the window while ignoring the factory around the bend spewing sewage into the river. Fact of the matter is health care workers have been killing people far in excess of any unjustified killings by police for years/decades and there has never been a peep out of people about it. The fact that you take the time to say ‘fuck the police’ over the healthcare workers who are killing them in an order of magnitude higher speaks volumes about you.

            Do keep in mind at no point have I said that what the police have done is acceptable or okay. That’s your own narrative.

            • @Odelay42
              4•9 months ago

              I never said fuck the police over the healthcare workers. I said any number of murders by police is too many. Any number of murders by healthcare workers is too many.

              My point is the police shouldn’t get a pass because there’s another group that’s worse. Both groups should be scrutinized and deeply reformed.

              • crossmr
                -3•9 months ago

                You literally took the time to say ‘fuck the police’ and didn’t say anything similar about the healthcare workers after seeing the stats that show that healthcare workers are more dangerous than police.

            • proleEnglish
              1•9 months ago

              This has to be one of the dumbest arguments I’ve seen… Did you know that the death rate at hospice is 100%? HOW HAVE WE LET THESE MURDER CAMPS GO ON FOR SO LONG?

              It’s almost as if one of the things exists to care for people who are already sick and/or dying, so naturally they will handle more dead people.

              And the other exists to protect capital. Not human life, capital. Often at the expense of human life.

              So yeah, the comparison is fucking stupid.

          • @[email protected]
            -3•9 months ago

            Can you name a job that is more careful when restraining adults? That’s the point this poster was making.

            Try launching the slogan Fuck healthcare workers and see how much support you get

    • Flying Squid
      24•9 months ago

      How many deaths per year would be unacceptable to you? Can you give us a number?

    • the post of tom joad
      11•9 months ago

      i know i’m probably wasting my breath, but is there something the police could do that you wouldn’t defend?

    • GladiusB
      5•9 months ago

      Medical professionals have the risk of keeping them alive. Not just detaining them.

      • @Woht24
        0•9 months ago

        This entire thread is. There hasn’t been a reasonable thought on the internet about the police that hasn’t been blasted by both extremes for the last 5 years or more.

        I genuinely think the people who can’t shut the fuck up about hating the police are the ones who want and need them the most, they are like abused spouses.