[DouglasKC]

There are specific circumstances where putting someone on their stomach can be safe and helpful. However, pretty much every police training manual and instructor in the country states that once you have cuffs on a suspect, you are to immediately put them in a neutral (e.g. sitting) or standing position. This is for the safety of the suspect. This was a hard lesson learned after people with all sorts of medical conditions died after being left laying face-down while handcuffed.

He was having trouble breathing and stated that even BEFORE he was on the ground. Is the article wrong about proning helping people who are having trouble breathing?

[2aProtectsTheRest]

There is no circumstance where breathing will be improved by laying face-down in the street with your hands cuffed behind your back and a 190 lbs man’s knee in the back of your neck. None. Zero. Does not exist. Does not even make the slightest bit of sense whatsoever to suggest it. Officer Chauvin’s attorneys will never try to claim he had recognized Floyd’s difficulty breathing and thought this was the best way to help him breathe better.

If they did, the jury would burst into laughter before asking the judge if they can just take a vote right then and there.