Fort Wayne Police Stop Using Neck Restraint For Offenders

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Police in Indiana's second-largest city have temporarily stopped using a type of neck restraint for subduing offenders, citing potential safety concerns.

The Fort Wayne Police Department announced Wednesday that it has suspended its officers' use of the lateral vascular neck restraint.

Police spokesman Sgt. Jim Seay says the department started employing the restraint technique in October 2014 for use in subduing resistance, particularly violent resistance.

He tells The Journal Gazette that the department stopped using the method due to potential safety concerns, but he declined to elaborate.

Seay says the restraint method isn't a chokehold.

The department said in a statement that the neck restraint allows officers "to quickly, safely and efficiently take offenders into custody" and it has "historically a low probability of injury to the offender and officer."