President Donald Trump says he would like to see an end to the police use of chokeholds, except in certain circumstances.
President Donald Trump says he would like to see an end to the police use of chokeholds, except in certain circumstances.
“I don’t like chokeholds,” President Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired on Friday. “Generally speaking,” he said, the practice “should be ended”.
But President Trump also talked at length about a scenario in which a police officer is alone and fighting one-on-one and could have to resort to the tactic.
Chokeholds have come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in police custody, which has sparked mass protests across the nation and around the world demanding justice, racial equality and policing reform.
Though the tactic was not used on Mr Floyd, who died after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck and after Mr Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe, it has become a symbol of police brutality and there have been calls nationwide to ban its use.
The manoeuvre is banned in many departments across the country already.
