I WAS THERE: Chokeholds, Blacks & LAPD Chief Daryl Gates

Published 2020-07-30
It was May 1982 when LAPD Chief Darryl Gates called UCLA cardiologist Dr. Richard Allen Williams with a question. Gates had a “hunch” that Blacks were dying more frequently from chokeholds because their veins or arteries didn’t open up as fast as “normal people.” Would Dr. Williams back up the chief’s theory? The call didn’t go well.

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All Comments (8)
  • @johnmchugh8049
    He asked about the neck issue to ban choke holds to serve the community - and minimize people from injury-
  • @myishaburton
    Thank you uncle for speaking up and standing up when others wouldn’t.
  • Amen, I agree. I think that the idea to utilize a choke hold to subdue anyone is absolutely asinine. There's no way that a choke hold will not kill or at the very least permanently damage someone. If you use a choke hold your aim is to kill!
  • @Judah--YB
    82 I was 4 years old.. LA was off the hook back then I remember that batterram
  • I strongly disagree, in most of these situations, including Floyd's, the subjects were refusing to comply with police instructions, so how does that make it racist? I agreed the optics look bad, but how is it racism? Im a black man saying this.