‘Diaphragm Law' Banning NYPD Officers From Applying Pressure To Suspect's Torso Struck Down, Called ‘Unconstitutionally Vague'

CBS New York

June 23, 2021

A judge has struck down a law that prohibited NYPD officers from putting pressure on a suspect’s torso while making an arrest, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.”

Manhattan Judge Laurence Love wrote in a 17-page opinion that phrasing in the law, passed in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, was hard to define and ripe for confusion.

Love’s ruling came in a lawsuit brought by police unions opposed to the law, which they referred to as the “diaphragm law” because it barred officers from restraining people “in a manner that compresses the diaphragm.”

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