Speaking Personally - The “chokehold” that wasn’t

There has been a video circulating on social media of Officer Israel Guidry arresting a woman inside a car wash bay in Mountain View. Allegations surrounding this video use the word “chokehold” to describe the way the officer handles the arrest.
This would be a very serious allegation if it were true. Watching the video closely, it is very obvious that the woman’s airway is never compromised, even for a moment. 
She reaches to open the car door, and the officer grabs her by the back of the neck and spins her around in order to place handcuffs. When I first saw the video, this contact with what looks like the back of the neck did concern me, so I reviewed it with some law enforcement professionals from another agency. 
I’m not a cop. I have never trained in techniques used to restrain someone. I needed the opinion of someone who has been in this situation, who has the training and experience to tell me if any lines were crossed.
Their professional opinion was that Officer Guidry did nothing wrong. The subject could have been reaching for anything inside the car, and the officer acted quickly for his own safety, and hers. 
However, I do not believe these allegations of inappropriate conduct would have gained nearly as much traction if any other officer were involved. 
No one in the area is likely to forget the circumstances in 2019 that left one woman dead after a traffic stop conducted by Officer Guidry. As we all know, he was charged with manslaughter and his POST credentials were suspended. Those charges were eventually dropped, and his law enforcement certification reinstated. 
And now Israel Guidry is working for the Mountain View Police Department again. 
He’s going to be working under a magnifying glass as long as he’s working in Mountain View. I don’t see any way around it. People are going to pay close attention to his every action on the job.
After he was hired, there was a small protest at the Howell County Courthouse. There is a portion of the community who still believe he’s guilty. There is, likewise, a portion of the community that has supported him from the beginning. 
Readers, I’m glad to be the watchdog of all our public servants. I am more than willing to scrutinize the police or any elected official. But I won’t be party to a witch hunt. 
I won’t have any part of running a man out of town when he is working a job that fewer and fewer people want to do – a job that is inherently dangerous and difficult – so long as he conducts himself honorably. 
In this instance, I don’t see any wrongdoing.
Let’s hold up the magnifying glass without setting a fire.
 
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