--- description: Police agency frequently declined to discipline officers title: New York Cops Sometimes Use Chokeholds First, Report Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta29346c89ee0109d/69877969428a9ec5bccc684a/nypd-new-york-police.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New York Cops Sometimes Use Chokeholds First, Report Says by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2015 4:59 PM CUT  New recruits bow their heads for a moment of silence during a New York Police Academy graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Dec. 29, 2014. New recruits bow their heads for a moment of silence during a New York Police Academy graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Dec. 29, 2014.John Minchillo—AP by [Josh Sanburn](/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2015 4:59 PM CUT A new [report](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/a-report-on-chokehold-cases.pdf "undefined") on chokehold incidents involving NYPD officers has found that the department routinely declined to discipline officers who used the banned maneuver even though it was the first act of physical force used in several instances. The report, the first since the death of Eric Garner in July—who died after being placed in a chokehold by an NYPD officer—reviewed 10 chokehold cases involving NYPD officers between 2009 and 2014\. According to the report issued by the NYPD’s inspector general’s office, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates complaints against officers, recommended discipline that could’ve led to a loss of vacation days or even termination for officers involved in all 10 cases. But Raymond Kelly, who was police commissioner during six of those incidents, imposed a less severe penalty or declined to discipline the officers involved. (**MORE:** [Bill de Blasio’s Wife on Police Relations](http://time.com/3656281/blasio-wife-police-relations/ "undefined")) “There was no indication from the records reviewed that NYPD seriously contemplated CCRB’s disciplinary recommendations or that CCRB’s input added any value to the disciplinary process,” the report says. In several cases, the inspector general found that NYPD officers used neck grabs, headlocks or other physical acts involving contact with a suspect’s neck or throat—all prohibited by the department’s guidelines—as a “first act of physical force in response to verbal resistance, as opposed to first attempting to defuse the situation.” (**MORE:** [Bill Clinton Says Eric Garner ‘Didn’t Deserve to Die’](http://time.com/3635608/bill-clinton-eric-garner/ "undefined")) The report stated that the inspector general’s office plans to look at use-of-force cases more broadly to help determine how prevalent chokeholds are across the agency. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/"},"headline":"New York Cops Sometimes Use Chokeholds First, Report Says","datePublished":"2015-01-12T16:59:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:29:34.638Z","description":"Police agency frequently declined to discipline officers","url":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/","keywords":["Crime","police","New York","NYPD","Eric Garner"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta29346c89ee0109d/69877969428a9ec5bccc684a/nypd-new-york-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josh Sanburn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta29346c89ee0109d/69877969428a9ec5bccc684a/nypd-new-york-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NYC Mayor Police Graduation","caption":"NYC Mayor Police Graduation","creditText":"John Minchillo—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/","name":"New York Cops Sometimes Use Chokeholds First, Report Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Video of a Deadly Confrontation With Police","description":"TIME interviews the man who captured a fatal incident between Eric Garner and NYPD officers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QGZo2z1Q/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-22T16:49:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QGZo2z1Q.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/","duration":"PT3M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3663784/nypd-chokeholds-report-inspector-general/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```