George Floyd: US President Donald Trump supports a ban on neck compression techniques in police arrests, but insists it is sometimes necessary

Trump faces criticism for his response to the outbreak of anti-racism and police brutality

Sunday, June 14, 2020

UPDATimes - United States President Donald Trump has stated that he supports the elimination of the neck press technique to arrest suspects in police arrests. But he stressed that the technique was sometimes needed.

Some police forces in the US have banned the technique called chokehold since a massive anti-racism demonstration occurred after the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died at the hands of police.

Floyd died after a police officer pressed his neck with his knee for nine minutes.

Trump said it would be "a very good thing" to ban neck compression techniques, but he said the technique was sometimes needed in some situations.

Trump's comments came in conjunction with the Democratic and Repulsive Party's efforts at the US Congress to elaborate a bill on police reform.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said that the idea of ​​stopping police forces using the neck press technique sounded "very innocent, so perfect".

Demonstrations in New York

But he continued: "If a policeman is in a bad fight and he has someone ... you have to be careful.

"With that being said, I think, a very good thing that in general it must end," he said, adding that he might make "very strong recommendations" to the local government.

The police officers who knelt at Floyd's neck had been dismissed and now face second-degree murder charges.

Pressure on US police reform

Trump - who faces criticism for his response to the outbreak of anti-terrorism demonstrations and police brutality - said he wanted to "see strong but truly compassionate law enforcement", adding "toughness is sometimes the most compassionate".

When confronted by interviewer Harris Faulkner to explain his tweet on Twitter last month, which said "when the looting began, the shooting began", which was censored by Twitter because it was considered to chlorify violence, Trump said: "When the looting begins, it often means there will be ... of course there will be death, there will be murder. And that's a bad thing. " he said.

The bill on police reform was proposed by the Democratic opposition party which controls the US parliament, but for the bill to pass it must have the support of the Republican Party which controls the senate.

There is potential for both parties to reach agreement on a ban on the technique of neck press and forced search as happened in the Breona Taylor case, who died in his bed after being shot by police eight times.

Meanwhile, the city council in Minneapolis, where Floyd died, passed a resolution on Friday (12/06) to replace his police department with a community-led public security system.

It happened a few days after the council chose to dissolve the police department.

According to the resolution, the city council will begin a year-long process to involve "every member of the public who is willing to be in Minneapolis" to produce a new model of public safety.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered the police department to carry out major reforms.

Cuomo said he would stop financing local governments that failed to adopt reforms to tackle excessive and biased use of force in their police department in April.

He said he would sign executive orders for the city to "rediscover and modernize" their police department to fight racism.

The police discipline record will be released to the public and the neck press technique will be a criminal offense that can be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

"It must be done in every police station in the country," Cuomo was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Sitting with the governor at the press conference were Gwen Carr and Valerie Bell, the mother of Eric Garner and Sean Bell, two unarmed black men who were killed in an incident with the police.

Garner died when a white policeman used the Chokehold technique on him during an arrest in 2014.

Post a Comment

0 Comments