LAS VEGAS (AP) – The death of an unarmed man after police squeezed his neck during a struggle to subdue him outside a Las Vegas Strip casino raised questions Monday about the risks of the technique designed to restrict the flow of blood to the brain.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which led a push for use-of-force reforms after Las Vegas police were involved in 25 shootings in 2010, will seek a review of the training that allows officers to use what the department calls “lateral vascular neck restraint,” ACLU executive Tod Story said.
“We’re aware that they use this. But there has got to be another option,” Story said. “There have been people in custody who have died. It really should no longer be used.”
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said there will be a public use-of-force review to air the findings of the investigation of the death early Sunday of Tashii S. Brown, 40, of Las Vegas.
The county coroner said a ruling is pending on what killed Brown.