By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

Last week, reacting to the violent death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minnesota, California Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) introduced a new bill.

The legislation, AB 1196, bans law enforcement officers in the state from using carotid artery restraints to subdue and detain suspects.

Since Minneapolis Police Department officers killed Floyd on Memorial Day, protests calling for racial and economic justice have erupted in cities and towns in California, across the country and around the world.

Right after Floyd’s death, the San Diego, Davis, and Sacramento police departments officially announced that the agencies would immediately refrain from using the carotid artery restraint, also known as the “chokehold.”

Under California Senate Bill 1421, which went into effect in January 2019, the carotid artery restraint method is one of the practices law enforcement agencies are required to disclose in officers’ misconduct cases to increase accountability.