Why police chokeholds were banned in Ontario nearly 30 years ago

Nearly 30 years ago, Ontario banned the use of chokeholds for police in the province.

It was part of legislation by the provincial NDP government in 1992 aimed at reducing police shootings. The law also included banning officers from firing warning shots, allowing the use of pepper spray and requiring tracking of all incidents where an officer draws a gun.

At the time, retired Hamilton police Sgt. Michael Csoke admits he was against the ban. The chokehold - where pressure on the windpipes renders a person unconscious - was a move he used in his early policing career, especially on larger suspects resisting arrest.

But with time, he came to see it was the right decision - because in the wrong hands, the move is deadly.

Just because officers are trained doesn't mean they're skilled," he said.

In March 1992, months before the ban was announced, 37-year-old John Rioux died in Chatham during a struggle with a police officer who went to his house to arrest him on a speeding charge.

Rioux was choked to death and the police officer - Ron Tricker - was charged. He was initially convicted of manslaughter, but after winning an appeal, he was acquitted by a jury.

Before the provincewide ban, chokeholds had already been banned at individual police services, including by the RCMP in 1979, according to a 2008 report on the evolution of use of force for the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Questions about appropriate use of force have been in the forefront amid questions of police brutality and killings of Black people in the United States. In particular, massive protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in Minneapolis. A former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, was captured on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes. He's charged with second-degree murder.

Csoke said he's seen part of the horrific video. There is nothing there that I can defend," he said.

Csoke, who has an extensive martial arts background, spent much of his 30-year policing career teaching use of force in Toronto and then, after 1982, in Hamilton. At times he worked full-time teaching officers in the Hamilton police training branch. He was seconded for a year to teach at the Ontario Police College and also periodically taught as a guest instructor at the Canadian Police College.

In the mid-90s, Csoke sat on a provincial committee looking at use-of-force training across the province. As an officer in Hamilton, he worked in the fugitive apprehension unit before retiring in 2010.

Since his retirement, Csoke continues to work in the private sector, training police and body guards through KDI Protective Services, based out of Charlotte, N.C.

The experience has shown him the difference between policing in Canada and the U.S., but also reinforced his belief that police need more training.

In Ontario, all training is regulated and standardized across the province, but from what he's seen in the U.S., there is much greater variation from state to state. There are also many smaller police services in the south that do not have budgets or facilities for training.

In Ontario, a private security company would not be allowed to train officers on use of force, but in the U.S., Csoke said the company he works for allows officers from multiple services to come together and benefit.

Csoke said he also believes the training in Ontario could be better, noting that he's learned more training bodyguards in recent years. On both sides of the border, it often comes down to time and money.

Nicole O'Reilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com