New York City Mayor Refuses to Ban Police Chokeholds

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday he would veto any bill that would prohibit police officers from using choke holds during arrests.

"One officer and one perpetrator in a death struggle - in that instance the officer has the right to use any and all tools he can to save his life … I'm not going to agree to a situation where an officer is in that life-and-death struggle, thank God survives, and then faces criminal charges,” said de Blasio. “That's unacceptable."

City lawmakers proposed a bill that would make a chokehold during an arrest punishable by a $2,500 fine, or up to one year in prison.

However, de Blasio explained that since the manuever was already banned under the police department's internal rules, there was no reason to make it a city law as well.

Since a white New York police officer killed unarmed black man Eric Garner by putting him in a chokehold during an arrest, the use of the maneuver has been under intense public scrutiny.

Rory Lancman, one of the authors of the proposed bill, said in an interview, "In many circumstances it's not a maneuver of last resort … It's the first technique that they applied."

He went on to say that if an officer was in a “death struggle” and used a choke hold as a last resort, the officer would not even be indicted because state law allows for a self-defense justification.

“I hope that we can have a dialogue with the mayor and other stakeholders so that by the time the bill reaches his desk, it will be something we can both support," said Lancman.