United States: police officer kneels on man's neck to arrest him, open investigation

The images recall the death of George Floyd, the American who died after a policeman immobilized him by kneeling on his neck. A video filmed on Sunday at the entrance to a hospital in Allentown (Pennsylvania, United States) shows a policeman using his knee on the neck of an individual to block and arrest him.

Local police announced on Sunday that they would investigate the matter. A total of three police officers are involved in the control of this person. As USA Today explains, the video shows two police officers holding the arrested man and a third exerting physical restraint on his neck.

BREAKING: @AllentownPolice were filmed Saturday evening applying the same force to a resident that the cops used to murder #GeorgeFloyd.
This happened here in #Allentown outside a hospital.
We demand answers. We demand changes.
We're Done Dying. # DefundThePolice pic.twitter.com/AbuyvkMNdT

The police were on the spot for another case. The police noticed the person arrested in the video while he was vomiting and staggering at the level of the emergency access aisle.

A technique prohibited by the local police

Police say the individual spit in the face of law enforcement and that it was particularly difficult to arrest, even once on the ground. The use of a knee at neck height is not mentioned in the official police communication.

City mayor Ray O'Connell said the images are "disturbing", however. “All information must be collected before saying more. "

ABC warns that the Allentown police code of conduct prohibits pressure on the neck and strangulation. In June, after the George Floyd affair, President Donald Trump had also presented a decree prohibiting strangulation, except "if the life of a police officer is in danger".