Neurologists Say There Is No Medical Justification for Police Use of Neck Restraints

Summary: Neurologists say police forces claiming choke-holds and neck restraints as a method of controlling aggravated or aggressive people are “safe methods” is erroneous and dangerous. Neck restraints, researchers say, are never medically appropriate, and minor force can lead to stroke, seizures, and death.

Source: Mass General

Some police departments in the United States continue to teach officers that neck restraints are a safe method for controlling agitated or aggressive people, but that’s a dangerous myth, according to a Viewpoint written by three neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in JAMA Neurology.

The killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died while being arrested in May 2020 after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for more than eight minutes, helped spark a national conversation about racial injustice in the United States. Floyd’s death made headlines, as did that of Eric Garner in 2014 after police placed him in a chokehold. Yet a number of other Americans have died during confrontations with police officers who used neck restraints, says MGH neurologist Altaf Saadi, MD, senior author of the Viewpoint column.

Along with coauthors Jillian M. Berkman, MD, and Joseph A. Rosenthal, MD, PhD, Saadi was disturbed by the use of neck restraints by police departments in the United States. They found that some prohibit chokeholds and other neck restraints, but others teach the techniques for the purpose of subduing allegedly uncooperative people during encounters.

Notably, some police agencies advise that carotid restraint–compressing the two large blood vessels on either side of the neck, which is known as a stranglehold–is a safe, nonlethal tactic that temporarily renders a person unconscious by reducing blood flow to the brain.

“As a neurologist, I know that there is never a scenario where stopping the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is medically appropriate,” says Saadi. “What shocked me most was that much of the literature supporting these techniques hides behind medical language, but lacks a real understanding of the pathophysiology of the significant harm they cause to an individual. As neurologists, we are taught that ‘time is brain,’ because there’s such a rapid loss of human nervous tissue when the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is reduced or stopped.”

This shows a wall painted with "I Can't Breath"
In their Viewpoint, Saadi and her colleagues describe how carotid compression–which can occur with as few as 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of force, or about the weight of a typical house cat–can result in stroke, seizure and death. Image is in the public domain

In their Viewpoint, Saadi and her colleagues describe how carotid compression–which can occur with as few as 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of force, or about the weight of a typical house cat–can result in stroke, seizure and death. They call for the creation of a system for reporting on law enforcement’s use of neck restraints, including how often the technique is used and if it results in death or disability.

“It’s in the public’s best interest to have this data,” says Saadi. She believes that increasing awareness about the impact of neck restraints could help curb their use. Ultimately, says Saadi, there is no medical justification for neck restraints in policing.

Altaf Saadi, MD, is also an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Jillian M. Berkman, MD, is a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Joseph A. Rosenthal, MD, PhD, is a resident physician at MGH.

About this neurology research news

Source: Mass General
Contact: Michael Morrison – Mass General
Image: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access.
Carotid Physiology and Neck Restraints in Law Enforcement: Why Neurologists Need to Make Their Voices Heard” by Jillian M. Berkman, MD,  Joseph A. Rosenthal, MD, PhD,  Altaf Saadi, MD, MSc. JAMA Neurology


Abstract

Carotid Physiology and Neck Restraints in Law Enforcement: Why Neurologists Need to Make Their Voices Heard

I can’t breathe” has become an international rallying cry against police brutality after the high-profile murders of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014, and George Floyd on May 25, 2020. These powerful and tragic words have been uttered by dozens of other people, predominantly Black and brown people, across the country under similar circumstances involving vascular “neck restraints” or “carotid restraints”: James Thompson, Allen Simpson, Rodney Lynch, Dustin Boone, Roger Owensby Jr, Carl Glen Wheat, Gerald Arthur, and Torris Harris.

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