Video of a woman being restrained with a B.C. police officer’s arm around her neck has gone viral online, prompting an explanation from authorities.
The incident unfolded last Wednesday evening in Abbotsford, at the intersection of Townline and Maclure roads.
Natasha Harris-Jimmie told CTV News she started recording after seeing someone—who she later realized was a plainclothes police officer—tackling a woman onto the sidewalk.
“She went flying to the ground,” Harris-Jimmie said. “It was a rough drop.”
The officer is behind the woman restraining her by the neck when the video begins. This continues for around 20 seconds, during which the woman appears to “tap out” and flails her arms.
Harris-Jimmie had been driving her boyfriend and two sons at the time, and said the takedown was difficult to watch.
“Her face went real purple. It actually scared the people in my car,” she said.
The recording has since been viewed more than 200,000 times on social media, with some commenters celebrating the officer’s actions and others suggesting the use of force seemed “excessive.”
The Abbotsford Police Department addressed the arrest in a social media statement, writing that the woman was suspected in a theft at a business on Mt. Lehman Road that afternoon.
“The suspect was observed displaying unusual behaviour, including washing her hands with bleach,” the statement continued. “When the officer informed her that she was under arrest for theft, she became assaultive toward the officer and began to resist arrest.”
The officer ultimately used a technique known as a vascular neck restraint, the department said. The manoeuvre is different from a chokehold, according to Public Safety Canada, and when applied properly “does not restrict breathing, and does not put any pressure on the windpipe.”
“It applies pressure to both sides of a person’s neck, without restricting the airway. It may cause, but not always, a very brief period of unconsciousness that allows the police officer to safely place the individual in handcuffs,” reads a description on the government’s website.
RCMP officers are only allowed to use the technique when “lethal force could be used, but that intervention is deemed inappropriate at that time based on the totality of the situation,” the site reads.
The Abbotsford Police Department said it allows the use of vascular neck restraint even when there are no reasonable grounds to believe lethal force is justified. Because of that, officers are required to be re-certified on the technique annually, under provincial policing standards.
The certification of the officer involved in Wednesday’s arrest was up to date, Abbotsford police confirmed.
“The application of the VNR allowed the officer to safely gain control of the suspect and take her into custody without injury to either the suspect or the officer,” reads the department’s social media post.
