Police training expert speaks about fatal Minneapolis incident
The main reason that training like this is regularly required in police agencies is to protect not just the employee, but the agency itself. If an employee uses a restraint that isn't approved by the department, then they are liable. If this officer used it to excess, then he's liable. Police officers, correctional officers, etc., restrain people every day. Not every one dies from it, but occasionally they do. Personally, I'm surprised that they even approved this type of restraint. It was never taught to us, and was definitely not anything approved by New York State.
I don’t have any problem with using extreme force or hard techniques to restrain a perp. The problem here, as you know, is that this fellow was already restrained (cuffed,) and seems passive. The technique, then, becomes a gesture of cruelty.