People definitely used to die from it when it was used frequently.
No, they did not die from being choked. They died from either exertion or drugs in their system or a combination of both.
I used the choke for nearly 30 years and never hurt anybody. The only person I saw hurt from a choke was from a cop who was not very good at it letting go of the guy he was choking after the guy was out. The guy fell over and hit his head on the floor and needed a few stitches.
When I was sent to a school to be a police instructor I did research on the “choke hold.” In the entire history of Olympic Judo, nobody had ever died from a strangulation technique. The choke is very prevalent in MMA, nobody has died to date from that either.
The Kansas City PD did an extensive search on this subject. They now teach what is commonly known at the ‘Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint.” No deaths that I am aware of.
Attributing deaths to the choke hold is another media lie.
In my nearly 30 years I saw countless people choked. Not one died. We did have 1 die from reaction to pepper spray and 1 by reaction to the Tazer.