A city in New Mexico agreed to implement a policy forbidding officers from using chokeholds as part of a settlement with the family of a resident who died after a chokehold was used.
The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, agreed to pay the family of Antonio Valenzuela $6.5 million as part of the settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit. Valenzuela, 40, died after an officer used a chokehold on him following a traffic stop.
In addition to the ban on chokeholds, the city agreed to have a warning system to track officers who use excessive force and require annual mental health exams for all officers. The city also agreed to have all changes to policing policy require approval from the City Council.
The officer involved in the death, Christopher Smelser, had pulled Valenzuela over in February because he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest after a parole violation. When Valenzuela was pulled over, he ran from Smelser, who allegedly chased him and shot him with a Taser before placing him in a chokehold. At one point, Smelser said, “I’m going to [expletive] choke you out, bro.”
Smelser was charged with second-degree murder following an autopsy that revealed that Valenzuela had died from asphyxial injuries.
A ban on chokeholds is one of several policy changes that policing reform advocates have been pushing in recent months following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.
