NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has struck down a New York City law that had prohibited the city’s police officers from putting pressure on a person’s torso while making an arrest, calling the measure “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 Tuesday 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.” New York City’s law department, which defended the struck down law in court, said it is “reviewing its legal options.”
Photo: NYPD officers gather on the steps of the 1st Precinct, Tuesday, May 25, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
