SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Tempers flared at a meeting of the Community Review Board On Police Practices Tuesday night.
Dozens spoke out against the San Diego Police Department’s chokehold policy. Members of the Racial Justice Coalition wants to ban the practice, saying it’s excessive force and potentially deadly.
San Diego’s new police Chief David Nisleit called the comments at the meeting “passionate.” He said he heard them loud and clear but had questions about the doing away with the chokehold as some law enforcement agencies around the country have done.
“Anytime you take a use of force tactic away from an officer, they generally have to go a higher level,” Nisleit said. “So my concern on that, and why I’m hitting pause to take a hard look at this, is I want to make sure that if we continue or discontinue, it's for the very right reasons. I want to look at the LAPD and the Chicago Police Department and their information on what has happened prior to and more importantly, what has happened afterward to see if more higher level of force had to be used.”
The chokehold is expected to come to the review board again at their May meeting.
