Columbia police officer placed knee on protester’s neck during arrest
A photo from Saturday’s protest in downtown Columbia shows three police officers taking a man into custody, with one officer’s knee placed against the man’s upper neck.
It’s unclear whether the officer’s knee was placed in inadvertently or intentionally.
Columbia police arrested the man after a curfew was put into place to break up protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Police said items were thrown at them, four police cars were set on fire, and about 30 businesses were damaged downtown and in the Vista.
The man in the Columbia photo, which was taken by a photographer for The State, was charged with violating curfew. The photo was taken on Assembly Street between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Floyd died after a Minneapolis officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, Minnesota authorities have said. In a video of the incident, Floyd can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” Four former Minneapolis police officers have been charged in his death.
The State asked the Columbia Police Department if its officers are allowed to place their knees to the neck of a person being detained. The State also asked if the officer in the photo is being investigated.
The department did not answer those questions, but it sent a statement that highlighted the violence in Columbia last weekend.
“On Saturday, law enforcement officers in the area of Assembly Street called for assistance over the police radio as protesters became violent by throwing rocks and other items at police teams,” the statement said. “At that time, the City of Columbia curfew was in effect and all protesters were in violation of the curfew. Based on the violation, law enforcement attempted to place the suspect under arrest and handcuff him. The suspect actively resisted, and a brief struggle ensued. Immediately after this photograph was taken, the suspect was assisted to his feet and transported to jail without further incident.”
Placing a knee on the neck is not a maneuver taught by South Carolina police trainers and is not used by most major police agencies in Richland and Lexington counties, according to those agencies.
“I went in the (state) police academy in 1977. They didn’t train it in 1977 and they’re not training it today,” said South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel. “That’s not part of the training and it’s not allowed under our policy.”
Keel’s comments were in response to general questions about police tactics. He was not asked to react to the photo from Saturday’s arrest in Columbia.
The Columbia Police Department’s use of force policy does not directly address whether officers can use a knee or shin to a person’s neck.
The use of force manuals of other Richland and Lexington counties’ police agencies also don’t directly speak to the use of a knee or shin to the neck. But officials with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and Lexington Police Department all said officers are not trained or allowed to put a knee to a person’s neck.
A spokesperson for the Richland’s sheriff department added that it “does not train or approve any technique to restrict the airways” of a person being taken into custody.
In the case of Lexington Police Department, a spokesperson said the department follows state police trainers defensive tactics, which do not teach putting a knee to the neck.
South Carolina police recruits are trained by the state’s Criminal Justice Academy and go through a 12 week program of 468 hours for basic law enforcement training.
In that program, police trainers teach recruits how to make arrests in various situations. When attempting to arrest someone who is in a prone position, officers are trained to put a knee to the shoulder area and to avoid the neck, according to Jackie Swindler, director of the Criminal Justice Academy.
But in the heat of an arrest, mistakes can be made by officers, said Swindler, who was not asked to react to the Columbia arrest photo. Having proper and frequent training reduces those mistakes but doesn’t eliminate them. When an officer isn’t adhering to the training, the officer’s partners need to step in.
“If someone’s doing something that isn’t proper procedures, they (the officer’s partners) should say something,” Swindler said.
He cited a recent video that gained national attention in which a Seattle police officer pulled another officer’s knee off the neck and onto the back of a person being arrested.
Keel, the SLED chief, believes this kind of officer-to-officer accountability is fundamental to police work.
Keel said he tells every agent he swears in that “if they see any officer using unnecessary force they are to intervene.”
“If they do not intervene and I find out about it, they’re going to be held accountable just as the perpetrator of the unnecessary use of force,” Keel said.
When SLED agents are on the streets with other police agencies, “the same policy goes,” Keel said.
Columbia Police Department’s use of force policy is the only of the major police agencies in Richland and Lexington counties that directly speaks to other officers’ obligations.
“Officers have a duty to intervene to prevent another officer who is about to use excessive or unnecessary force or engage in other misconduct,” the department’s policy says.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 9:19 AM.