NEW YORK — An appeals court on Thursday reinstated a New York City law that bars city police officers from pressing on a person’s torso while making an arrest, reversing a lower court ruling that called the measure as “unconstitutionally vague”.
A five-judge panel in the appellate division of the state trial court ruled that the law, passed in 2020 in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, is clear on what officers can and cannot do and will not will lead to arbitrary or discriminatory application.
Manhattan Judge Laurence Love struck down the law last year after police unions sued the city to block it. He sometimes referred to the measure as the “diaphragm law” because it prohibited officers from restraining people “in a manner that would compress the diaphragm.”
In the wake of Love’s ruling, the city council considered revising the law, but that effort stalled.
The Police Benevolent Association said it was reviewing its legal options, which could include taking the matter to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeal.
Union president Patrick Lynch said Thursday’s ruling “deals a direct blow to our fight against the violence that is tearing our city apart.”
“This ill-conceived law makes it virtually impossible for police officers to safely and legally stop violent criminals, the very job New Yorkers urgently ask us to do,” Lynch said in a written statement.
A message seeking comment was left with city attorneys.
The recently reinstated New York City law is one of many policing reforms enacted across the US in the wake of Floyd’s death, which occurred when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for approximately nine minutes. and a half.
The law also prohibits the use of chokeholds by police officers. The New York City Police have long banned that tactic, which is also illegal under state law.
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