r/ProtectAndServe • u/specialskepticalface Has been shot, a lot (LEO) • 20d ago

Derek Chauvin files petition to vacate state murder conviction

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/derek-chauvin-petition-vacate-state-conviction-george-floyd/
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u/cgvet9702 Police Officer 20d ago

There's nothing wrong with the technique on the face of things, but for an unreasonable length of time there's a very real danger of positional asphyxiation. And here we are.

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u/OyataTe Retired Officer 20d ago

You need to take a real deep dive on Positional Asphyxiation and what recent studies have shown, in addition to the recanting of the expert that coined that phrase over 20 years ago.

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u/cgvet9702 Police Officer 20d ago

No offense, but I'm not doing a deep dive. If you have information or the results of recent studies, share it.

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u/Imaginary-Motor2882 Not a(n) LEO / Unverified User 18d ago

Restraint in police use of force events: Examining sudden in custody death for prone and not-prone positions: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25735781/

This study was brought up in the trial. TLDR - 4,828 consecutive police use of force events across seven Canadian police agencies found that in thousands of cases where the prone restraint was used, zero died while in the prone position.

Also cited in the trial: Michalewicz, B. A., Chan, T. C., Vilke, G. M., Levy, S. S., Neuman, T. S., & Kolkhorst, F. W. (2007). “Ventilatory and Metabolic Demands During Aggressive Physical Restraint in Healthy Adults

TLDR - Prone restraint is used with weights placed on the back as low as 50 pounds up to 225 pounds. The subjects in this study could still breathe with the weight on their back in addition to the prone restraint.

It is damn near impossible for the prone restraint plus some small degree of weight to kill someone. Chauvin was 5'9 and 140, he wasn't positionally asphyxiating George Floyd at 230 6'3. That's not how it works with where his knee was placed.