Gentile Tells Council: Don’t criminalize chokeholds by NYPD
Says he’ll vote against bill outlawing practice
A bill introduced in the City Council to criminalize chokeholds by police officers would unfairly handcuff cops and interfere with their ability to do their jobs, according to Councilmember Vincent Gentile, who said he plans to vote against the proposed legislation.
Gentile (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bensonhurst), a former prosecutor, issued a statement in reaction to a bill introduced last week by Councilmember Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) that would make it a crime for a police officer to use a chokehold on a citizen. Under Lancman’s bill, a cop using a chokehold would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor and would face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine if convicted.
It’s a wrongheaded approach, said Gentile, who served as an assistant district attorney in Queens before entering politics in the 1990s. “Most of us leave for work each morning knowing the odds are in our favor that we’ll return home alive at night, but the men and women of the New York City Police Department can’t be so sure. Police officers who risk their lives on a daily basis need every tool at their disposal when they come face to face with a dangerous situation. That is why I am strongly against any legislation that would handcuff the NYPD,” he said.