It’s safe enough to be done in judo/jiu jitsu classes all across the country, and is a dominant technique in no holds barred fighting sports, in which I participated for about a decade when I was younger. I’ve performed/witnessed/experienced hundreds of applications and never seen any complications. Of course, this was with folks who were in shape, and trained, and of course there would be greater risk in the general population. My point was only that this isn’t as dangerous as what it appears to be (trachea choke), which would be extremely risky and dangerous.
Yes, I’ve been taught that and a responsible ‘tacher’ will tell you that its very easy to hurt someone doing it.
Its asinine to think you can cut someones oxygen supply to the brain off without some negative impact. People die from this. It most certainly is just as dangerous as it looks. The cop endangered this kids life for no good reason.